


One Way Home

by sempiternalailurophile



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Anal Fingering, Blood Drinking, Ciel becomes a combination of Sebastian’s property and employer, Ciel is from the future, Ciel is his canon age, Eventually they start pretending to be related as a part of their cover story, Hand Jobs, I made this AU so I could write the blood-drinking sex scenes, M/M, Oral Sex, Possessive Behavior, There’s also some slice of life stuff, Underage Sex, Vampire!Sebastian, eventual Anal Sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-16 02:29:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 9
Words: 39,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28823736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sempiternalailurophile/pseuds/sempiternalailurophile
Summary: When Ciel accidentally strands himself in the past with no way to get back to his own time, he has no other option but to make a deal with a vampire for his survival. But Sebastian is interested in more than just Ciel's blood.
Relationships: Sebastian Michaelis/Ciel Phantomhive
Comments: 29
Kudos: 90





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I was inspired to write this when I came across a prompt somewhere about a time traveler who gets stuck in the past and has to be turned into a vampire to survive through the ages to get back to their own time.
> 
> In this fic, Ciel = our Ciel.
> 
> Also, if you would like you can visit me at my tumblr: sempiternalailurophile.tumblr.com  
> Or at my twitter: twitter.com/sempiternalxcat

Ciel cursed and desperately pressed the 'abort' button on the transparent screen being projected from his wristband. He had not meant to actually activate it! He had only intended to see if it was real and peek at the options a bit. This couldn't be happening. He couldn't imagine how much trouble he would be in if his parents found out he had been playing around with this.

The wristband contained a top-secret military prototype technology that, supposedly, would allow the user to travel not only to any location on the planet to spy, but also had extremely limited time travel capabilities. Nothing more than a couple of days, at most; but a couple of days could be quite valuable if they were the right days. Ciel's father was the CEO of the military contractor that had invented it in their laboratories, and Ciel had overheard many discussions he was not likely meant to overhear regarding the existence of the technology and its alleged abilities.

He had been highly skeptical. Ciel did well in school and had a basic understanding of physics. _This should not be possible at all_ , he thought. But at the same time, he looked up to his father and couldn't believe his father would have spent so much time and money researching something that was fundamentally impossible. He just wanted to know the truth. If he could look at the screen and see the destination options, he would be able to see if previous dates were available. It wouldn't by itself prove that the technology worked (he'd have no way to be sure about that except to try it, and he did not want to go that far), but it would tilt his wavering belief/disbelief in one direction or the other, depending on what he saw.

However, he had not anticipated that the interface would be so buggy! The touchscreen misregistered where he was clicking, the menu options didn't make sense, some of the decision trees looped back in on themselves, and the entire thing felt like it had not even been alpha tested, let alone beta tested. It was clearly nowhere near ready for military use, or even human use.

There were two separate menu options for "destination". It seemed that one led to destinations in space, and when he clicked that one, he saw most of the world's largest cities programmed in. His own city, London, was there as well, and he wondered which part of it he would end up in if he clicked it. But he resisted the temptation and managed to back out and go to the second "destination" option. This one had options in time, and sure enough, he did see alternative dates programmed in. Contrary to what he had overheard, some of these dates were very far back in time. _Perhaps they’re just placeholders?_ he thought. But he now had his answer. They really were working on time travel! He pressed the back button, but the touchscreen misregistered where he clicked and interpreted his click as being on one of the old dates in the destination table.

Suddenly, the world disappeared.

* * *

Ciel opened his eyes, finding himself on his hands and knees on the ground. There was a thin layer of frost under him, cold against his bare skin, and he struggled to his feet. His legs felt wobbly and unsteady, and he could not remember who he was or anything about himself for a moment. Then it came rushing back.

The machine! He lifted his wrist up and saw that the wristband was still there, but the transparent screen that had been projected from it was no longer active. _Don't panic_ , he thought, _it must have just timed out or gone to sleep or something._ He could turn it back on. It had a mechanical on/off switch, and he pressed it hard and waited. Nothing happened.

"Come on..." he murmured, and pressed it again. “Turn on.” Maybe it was just going through some sort of power cycle or something. It had to turn back on. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest. Despite his self-reassurances, he was beginning to panic. What would he do if it didn't turn on? He pressed the button again and held it down this time, desperately hoping for some sign of life from the machine. Had he hit it on the ground or something when he...landed? Or fell? He wasn't sure exactly what had happened to him. Did it need to be charged? He didn't have a charger for it with him. He didn't even want to think about what he would do if he had ended up somewhere without electricity.

He held the button down until his finger began to hurt too badly, then gave up. There was no response from the machine. He felt tears beginning to swell up in his eyes and he quickly wiped each eye, trying to hold them back. He had to think. It was clearly broken, and it was his only way home. That meant he had to fix it. And before he would even be able to start trying to do that, he would need to figure out where he was.

He looked around for the first time, eyes a bit bleary. It was dark outside, though he thought he could see street lights in the distance. He was in a city and appeared to have landed in an alleyway. The nearby buildings were unfamiliar in their construction and style. He felt like he was looking at a picture in a history book, but he was not sure from which time frame specifically.

He tried to think back, to recall which date he had accidentally clicked on, but he couldn't remember. He could only remember the frantic panic he felt as he pressed 'abort' over and over, without success. Logically, he reasoned, since he had picked a destination in time and not one in space, that likely meant he had not moved very far in space. He was probably still in London, just a very old version of it.

He peeked out the end of the alleyway onto the nearest road. There were not many people out. Intermittent street lights dotted the road, but it was still quite dark. He started walking down the street. He did not know where he was going, but he was vaguely hoping that if he could figure out for sure where he was, it would help him figure out when he was. And then he could start to marshal a plan to fix the machine.

He felt himself nearly spiral into despair at the thought of the monumental task ahead of him. Fixing the machine. It was laughable, really. He was no physicist, no engineer, no scientist. He knew that no matter how buggy and seemingly simple the wristband had looked when it had been working, the inner workings would be monstrously complex. He would probably need a quantum supercomputer just to begin a diagnostic assessment of what the damage was. It was impossible. No, he couldn't think about that right now. He couldn't give up before he had even begun.

He drifted vaguely towards the center of the town. He had hoped he would recognize the layout or something and would be able to positively identify it as his city, but it didn't seem familiar at all. Though few people were out, when someone did pass by him, they stared at him. _I must make a bizarre sight_ , he thought. The people he saw were mostly clothed in dark colors, and typically in pants and coats. It was cold outside, with frost covering most surfaces he saw. Ciel began to wish he had a warmer outfit on himself. He was wearing a silver jumpsuit that had short sleeves. The legs of the jumpsuit ended partway down his thighs and he had short black boots on. He knew he stood out a lot from the locals. He felt himself starting to shiver and picked up his pace, hoping to warm himself up. Before he had made his mistake he had been indoors, so he was by no means dressed for the outdoor weather.

He started to get an uncomfortable feeling. He couldn't pinpoint it, but it felt like he was being watched, and not only by random passersby. He stopped and turned around and did not see anyone there, nor did he see anyone to either side of him, but the feeling did not disappear.

Suddenly, when he came to a small intersection, he noticed there were men in front of him and on both sides of him in the intersection. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that there were now men behind him as well. They must have come out of one of the buildings. His heart sped up.

The men in front of him started to talk, but he could not understand a single word they were saying. That was strange, and he did not understand why for a second, until he realized the obvious: his microchip couldn't perform real-time interpretation of a language he didn't have stored locally if it couldn't connect to the Internet to access it.

"Sorry, I don't speak your language..." he said slowly. He knew they would likely not understand anything he was saying either, but he could not think of anything else to do. He had never had to talk to anyone who didn't have a microchip or who didn't speak one of the modern languages he had downloaded and ready to use before. He needed to get out of here. He saw the men give each other strange looks, and they started closing in around him.

His survival instincts told him his best chance at escape was to go low and use his comparative small size to his advantage to make himself as difficult to grab as possible. He tried his best to duck and run in between the closest opening, but he was not fast enough. Ciel had never been particularly athletic, and he felt too many hands close around his arms and legs for him to pull away.

* * *

As Sebastian sat on a rooftop early in the night observing the humans passing in the streets below him he was startled to hear a very loud sound in the alleyway next to the building he was on. Already disguised in his preferred animal form to avoid suspicion, he shifted over and looked into the alley instead and saw a curious sight.

A human had appeared from seemingly out of nowhere, with a sound that reminded him of a jet engine taking off. The sound was brief, gone as soon as it had come, but the human remained. He was immediately interested, largely because he knew for a fact that there were no humans in that alley before the noise happened. His ability to detect the presence of humans by their scent was finely tuned, and he would have noticed it the moment someone set foot that close to him. How had this one gotten so close so suddenly?

He watched as the human, a child, stood up and tried to do something with a black wristband he was wearing. The boy spoke to himself quietly as he did this, and though Sebastian could hear the words since his hearing was nearly as acute as his sense of smell, he knew he had never before heard that language spoken. That was astonishing. He was able to understand the words, as he was able to understand all human languages with ease, but Sebastian had traveled extensively over the planet, and never in his centuries of life had he heard this one before.

He ran silently along the side of the roof of the building until he was far enough behind the boy to jump down onto the ground without being heard. When his paws hit the ground, the boy’s scent was stronger, and he took a deep breath to better analyze it. There was something very different about this human’s scent compared to others’. All humans had a unique scent, but most were generally somewhat similar to each other, only standing out in mild ways. But the boy in front of him was quite possibly the most delectable human he had ever encountered.

Was this the human he had been looking for? Sebastian had grown tired of feeding from the general mass of humanity. Doing so had once been enjoyable, when he was a younger vampire, but as he aged he was finding that the taste of average humans was becoming dull and bland, and instead of looking forward to drinking from them, he was beginning to regard it more as an uninteresting chore he had to complete simply to live. 

It was no way to go through life. Some vampires were more selective about their eating habits, he knew, and would take the time to carefully obtain a specific human who was especially compatible with their individual taste. They would then keep that human around for the long-term, so as to avoid having to resort to lower quality meals in the future. For some, this was similar to the human practice of keeping farm animals for ongoing access to their milk or wool, but for others it was more intimate and mutual, with the human even agreeing to the arrangement on occasion.

He believed the latter option would suit his aesthetics the best. The idea of having a human around all the time who was only there under threat of physical force or through mental coercion was not especially appealing. A human who freely gave their life blood to him in exchange for something Sebastian could provide...that was far more desirable. He knew he would indeed need to trade something for such an arrangement to take place, but that did not bother him. He could easily provide many of the things a human might wish for.

As the boy exited the alleyway and began walking down the street, Sebastian followed behind, a ways back, staying in the shadows and padding along silently. There were other humans on the street, but not many, and he paid them little mind until a man passed him from behind, heading towards the boy. The man did not appear to have noticed Sebastian, and Sebastian watched as the only human he had ever considered making his own, no matter how briefly, was accosted by a group of men who surrounded him from all sides at an intersection.

Sebastian considered intervening there and then. It would be simple, laughably so, to eviscerate each and every man who dared to touch something he was interested in. But though it was dark outside, there were many buildings nearby and many windows that potential witnesses could be looking out of. If he were to shift his form here and kill multiple humans, it might cause difficulties. It would not have been so earlier in his life, but humanity had advanced technologically since then and cameras were everywhere. For his kind, it was best to avoid causing suspicion whenever possible.

He decided to remain an observer only for the moment and watched the boy be carried away and stuffed unceremoniously into a box, which was then loaded into the trunk of a car. He knew little about this boy or about what these other humans wanted with him, and it would be worth it to gather additional information before taking decisive action. As the car drove away, he followed behind, again taking care to keep in the shadows when possible. He was forced to exceed the typical speed and endurance capabilities of his current form, but he did not think that it was likely that he would be noticed.

* * *

Ciel cried silently as he felt the car be driven over the intermittently bumpy road beneath him. He was ready to go home now. He just wanted his parents, his older brother. He was more alone than he had ever been in his life. He desperately tried pressing the button on his wristband again, but there was no response. He didn't know where he was, what time period he was in, who any of these people were, what they wanted, or even what they were saying to him. But he was old enough to know that bad things happened to people who got kidnapped. He knew the best case scenario was probably that they would want a ransom for him, which he wouldn't be able to arrange since he had no way to contact his parents. The worst case scenario was probably that they would murder him. Even in his time when violent crime was difficult to commit without being caught, such things did sometimes happen, particularly in the areas with spotty connections to the Internet. Being from a wealthy family, he knew he was a particularly good target for a ransom kidnapping, but he didn't think that these men could possibly know what kind of family he was from.

He tried closing his eyes as tightly as he could and then opening them again, hoping that he would suddenly wake up and this would all have been a terrible nightmare, but each time he did it he was still in the dark box. He needed to stretch out his legs, but there wasn't enough room, and his arms had been tied behind his back.

His mind raced as he tried to think of a way out of his predicament. There had to be some solution. What advantages did he have, what resources could he leverage? He was from the future, he had that. But he could not think of any way to leverage that at the moment. Sure, if he could figure out what year it was, he could impressively predict some future upcoming events or something, but that wouldn't be helpful right now. He knew about the existence of incredibly powerful and destructive weapons that would certainly impress anyone from the past, but he couldn't build any of them himself. He had a broken time traveling machine that wouldn't even turn on.

He had absolutely nothing. He had the knowledge of centuries of additional scientific discoveries, but absolutely no way to practically apply them to get himself free. _Perhaps they would accept a trade of knowledge for my freedom?_ he thought hopelessly. He knew it was extremely unlikely. They wouldn't believe anything he said, and they wouldn't even have a way to understand him since he didn't speak their language and they didn't speak his.

Worn out and exhausted both physically and emotionally, he tried to rest, but couldn't, as bumps in the road or sudden turns of the vehicle kept waking him up whenever he felt like he might have been about to drift off.

* * *

Sebastian observed from a distance as the box was unloaded from the car at a large warehouse at the other end of the city. It was located at the end of a low-traffic road and was surrounded mostly by other warehouses. The sun was not yet up, but it soon would be. He would need to get inside. He dashed across the grass towards the open door as men carried the box in and slipped inside between their feet without anyone noticing. Even if he had been seen, they probably would not have thought anything of it. Stray cats were common in all large cities, and some commercial property owners even welcomed their presence to keep down the rodent population.

He saw the box be carried into a separate back area of the warehouse, and he followed after a moment. He noticed he could no longer hear the boy kicking and screaming. _He must have tired himself out,_ he thought. He watched as the boy was removed from the box and placed into a cage instead. He looked fatigued, but was awake. Sebastian was amused when the boy gave a sudden kick at one of his captors. He missed, but it was a decent try for a tiny, fragile human. He listened to the boy's captors talk amongst themselves.

"So when will the activities be starting?" one asked the other.

"I heard tonight, in a couple hours, but I suppose it's whenever the boss feels like it," responded the other man.

Sebastian sat in a corner, cloaked in shadow as the men made their way back upstairs, debating with one another whether it would really be tonight or not. It seemed likely, as most of the guests were apparently already here, elsewhere in the warehouse. He flicked his tail back and forth as he stared at the boy in the cage, who was leaning back against it now and looking to be in quite a state of despair. The boy had not noticed him yet. He considered which method he should use to effect their escape, and decided that he would need to devise a test to make sure the child would be an acceptable companion. If he were not the right sort of person, he would hardly be able to get along with Sebastian, as the vampire’s lifestyle was far from anything a typical human would consider ethically acceptable. If that were the case, there would be no point in continuing to pursue him, delectable though he was. He believed he had just the idea, though it would be risky as far as the potential for attracting the wrong kind of attention went. But the location they were now in, further from the city center, was far more suitable for the sort of spectacle he had in mind.


	2. Chapter 2

Ciel was startled to see a sleek black cat slip easily between the bars of his cage and sit down next to him. It seemed to appear out of nowhere. He stared at it uncertainly.

"You appear to be in a situation of peril, human child. Would you like to purchase my assistance?"

Ciel jumped a bit. He looked all around the room, trying to find where the deep, resonating voice was coming from, but he couldn't see anyone in the room besides the large cat sitting next to him in the cage. He briefly wondered if he were going mad.

"That...can't be you talking to me..." whispered the boy, giving the cat a skeptical look.

"Do you see anyone else in the room?" asked Sebastian. He did not speak the words aloud, but rather transmitted them directly into the boy’s mind. If anyone else came into the room, they would not have heard a thing.

Ciel looked around again, but still, he saw no one.

"...no, but the idea of a cat talking to me is less likely than the idea that I'm just going crazy. Or maybe one of my microchips is malfunctioning and sending false signals to my auditory cortex."

Sebastian did not know what to make of this statement. Was the boy from some sort of cult? Was that why he had such an unusual manner of speaking and dressing? Well, it was no significant matter. Any strange ideas the child’s parents had given him about the world could easily be rectified by Sebastian.

"You're probably not crazy, though I can't be certain of it. But if you stay here, you may become so. I know you did not understand what those men were saying, but I did. The 'activities' are supposed to be starting tonight. Do you know what that means for you?"

Ciel frowned and looked away from the cat.

"I...I don't know what exactly that means. But I can guess it's bad. They obviously didn't kidnap me to do something good to me," he said quietly. "I just want to go home."

The cat brushed up against Ciel’s bare legs.

"I can help you go anywhere on Earth," said Sebastian as he turned around to face Ciel again. "And I can certainly help you get out of this cage and away from this warehouse."

Ciel believed he was beginning to have an idea of what this animal was. They existed in his time too, though only in small numbers so far as he knew. He had never met one, but he knew they had had the ability to magically understand foreign languages long before humans invented anything remotely equivalent. Vampires had been integral to the development of that technology, along with many others, such as certain human longevity treatments. A small flicker of hope began to burn in his chest.

He took off his wristband and held it out to the cat.

"Can you fix this? This is what will bring me home. My home is not a different place on Earth, it's a different time. I'm not supposed to be here."

The cat sniffed the wristband, then narrowed his eyes and said, "No, I can't do anything with that." _A different time! How absurd_ , he thought.

Ciel looked crestfallen. This had been his last hope.

"How do you know? You didn't even try. I know you have magic! You're talking to me magically with...telepathy or something. There's got to be something you can do.” He held the wristband out to the cat again, and the cat batted it onto the ground.

"I cannot fix...that. If you want my assistance, you will have to ask for something else."

"Hey!" said Ciel, and he quickly picked it back up. He did not want it to get any more damaged than it already was. He scowled at the cat as he put it back on his wrist where it would be safe.

"If you're not interested, I can just leave you here," said Sebastian, and he slipped through the bars to the outside of the cage.

"No! Wait. Please, don't go," said Ciel, and he reached his arm out of the cage towards the cat, who stayed just out of reach. "You're the only person I've been able to talk to so far here."

The cat sat down outside of the boy's reach and stared at him. Ciel noticed that the cat's brown eyes looked slightly red in the dim light of the back room of the warehouse.

"Do you have any serious interest in a mutually beneficial exchange?" asked Sebastian. "If not, there is no reason for me to stay."

Ciel pulled his arm back and knelt near the front of the cage. He had a pensive look on his face.

"...what do you want in exchange for helping me?" he asked quietly after a moment. "And where will you bring me once you get me out of here, since you can't actually bring me to my real home?"

The cat tilted his head to the side.

"Nothing extraordinary," he said. "Merely something...renewable. You have plenty of it and you make more every day. I would like consistent access to your blood for a defined minimum period of time, or until I grow weary of it, whichever happens first. As for where I will take you, initially we will go back to the hotel room I am staying at temporarily to gather my things, but after that we can go wherever you wish. I do not live in one place consistently. It is...more suitable for my kind to move from place to place frequently. Until our agreement expires, we will live together and you may choose where we will go unless I object to it. In exchange, I will protect you from men like these who have dealt with you so roughly already."

Ciel looked down. He should have known. Of course a vampire would want his blood as payment. What else could he possibly give that would have any value to such a creature?

"How are you going to get me past all of those people?” he asked. “It seemed like there were a lot of them, and I can’t sneak around the same way you can.”

"Don't worry about them," replied Sebastian, stepping closer. "Killing that many humans will be no difficult task for me. I will take care of all of those who have gathered here for the festivities too, as well as any miscellaneous others who may get in the way, as we cannot leave _any_ witnesses."

The boy was shocked. He pulled back from the cat. "I..." He wanted to escape, certainly, but to hire someone to commit mass murder for him was too much. "No, I don't want that. Can't you do something else?"

Sebastian stared at him for a while.

"No, that's a part of the deal. I will be here until the night is almost over, but then I will be leaving, with or without you. If you decide you want my help, call out for me and I will come," he said, and Ciel watched as he suddenly seemed to dissolve into a fine black mist that dispersed before his eyes.

* * *

Ciel spent the next couple of hours trying to sleep, a tiny bit at a time, intermittently jerking awake whenever he would hear anything. There were other cages in the room he was in and other children were being placed into them. He tried talking to one of them once, but the girl couldn't understand him, so he gave up. He saw a table be placed into the center of the room, along with chairs in a circle around it a distance away. He felt an increasing sense of foreboding about this. He wondered what their captors were planning to do with them.

_If it gets bad enough, I could always call for him_ , he thought, but that didn't really make him feel any better. He did not doubt that the vampire could kill enough humans to get him out of here. But the thought of being in some way responsible for it made him nauseous. The logical part of his mind knew this was irrational. His family manufactured weapons that could kill millions in a single blow. The profits from those weapons had paid for the outfit he was wearing and the broken time travel machine he still had strapped to his wrist. But that wasn't directly his personal doing, and was not going to be inheriting the family business when he was older anyway. He had always wanted to start his own toy shop instead.

He could call for the vampire, agree to his terms, and simply blame the whole slaughter on him. After all, had it not been the vampire who refused to help him escape in any other manner? In a certain way, it would not be Ciel's fault at all. And yet, he knew it still would be. He would be no different from any other person who hired an assassin to kill for them.

What would his brother have done, if he were the one stuck in this situation? He thought about that and concluded that his brother would have taken the deal, though not without negotiation. His brother would have decided that since he was alone and stranded without his family's money or bodyguards, he would need to find a way to recruit allies to his cause without monetary payment, at least until he could obtain an income stream of his own. And since the past was clearly a dangerous place, a supernatural creature that did not expect monetary payment in exchange for protection services would be a good candidate. His brother would not have been concerned about the lives of strangers who were already posing a threat to him and wouldn't have hesitated to have them eliminated.

He heard the door open again, and this time a large number of adults entered the room, both men and women. There were no windows in the room he was in, but he was guessing it must be at least halfway through the night by now. His time to make a decision was running out fast. Tonight was when the 'activities' were supposed to be commencing, wasn't it? And the vampire said he would be leaving near the end of the night, too.

The adults were talking amongst themselves, but Ciel couldn't understand anything they were saying. Whatever it was seemed to be making the other children nervous, though, he noticed. The adults were also wearing strange costumes that were entirely black.

One of the adults, a man, stood at one side of the table and began making what seemed to be some sort of speech. He saw some of the other children's cages being unlocked and the children being pulled out. The adults who grabbed the children began pulling off their clothes, and Ciel felt his stomach drop. Was _that_ really why they were here? Their captors were going to do _that_ to them? He looked away and sat as far back in his cage as possible, pulling his knees up to his chest. His heart was pounding and he could feel himself beginning to panic.

He jumped when he heard a key being put into the lock on his cage, and the door opened. Hands roughly grabbed onto his legs and began pulling him out. He grabbed onto the bars desperately in an attempt to avoid being pulled out, but he wasn't strong enough.

"No!" he shouted. "Get off me!" He tried kicking, but there were too many adults holding onto him and he couldn't get his limbs free. "Don't touch me!" Despite his pleas, he could see they were trying to work out how to undo his outfit. It did not have obvious buttons or zippers like older styles of clothing. One of them brought out a knife, clearly intending to simply cut the fabric, and Ciel decided he had been pushed far enough. He would do whatever he had to do to avoid being violated or murdered, no matter what the cost.

"Vampire!" he called, and he wished suddenly he had thought to ask his name. "You! You're still here, right? I will accept your deal! Stop them, kill them!”

He saw something move towards him, too quickly for him to make out what it was, and one of the men holding onto one of his legs suddenly dropped it as his throat was torn out by what appeared to be a clawed hand. Before Ciel could process it, the others holding him had also released him, and he fell to the ground. He watched as they were killed gruesomely, most by having various portions of their bodies torn apart. He sat on the floor, frozen, as screams pierced his ears. The vampire was still moving too quickly for him to get a proper look at, but he could track where he was by where people were dying.

He shut his eyes and tried to cover his ears. It was too much. There was blood everywhere, all over the room, all over him. On all sides he was surrounded by corpses. He struggled to stand, to move away from them, but he couldn't. He felt like vomiting. He heard some higher-pitched screams, ones that must have been coming from some of the other children. _No witnesses_ , he thought numbly. He pressed his hands more tightly to his ears. It felt like time was simultaneously moving far too slowly and far too quickly. He heard some more distant screams coming from other parts of the warehouse.

Eventually, all of the screams stopped. Ciel waited a moment, then hesitantly opened his eyes. He looked around the room and didn't see anyone alive. He tried to get up again, but still couldn't. His legs felt wobbly. He heard footsteps coming his way and he felt a jolt of fear as someone entered the room. It was a tall man who was calmly wiping blood off his hands with a handkerchief. He had black hair and his eyes glowed brightly red in the dimness of the room. He was dressed in a blood-splattered business suit, which was of an archaic style to Ciel's eyes.

"I am finished," he said. He held out a hand to Ciel to help him up. Ciel hesitated, but soon took his hand and allowed himself to be helped to his feet. He stared at the vampire warily. He found him much more intimidating in this form, but he knew he could not afford to appear too fearful.

“...you’re certain? There’s no more anywhere in here?” he asked.

Sebastian gave a smug smile and nodded.

“We are all alone now, I assure you.”

“All right, good,” said Ciel. “I...before, you said you wanted access to my blood for a defined minimum amount of time. How much time?”

“It’s negotiable, but I won't accept any fewer than five years. It's not worth making an investment in you for a shorter timespan than that.”

Five years was a long time to Ciel, and initially he was inclined to object, but he knew that realistically his ultimate goal of getting back home was likely to take multiple years anyway, which meant he would need someone to protect and take care of him for at least that long.

“Fine, five years it is. But if I am to give you so many years of my life as well as my blood, I want something more from you than just protection.”

Sebastian raised an eyebrow.

“What else do you desire?”

“I want guaranteed protection for the entire agreed-upon timespan, regardless of whether or not you get tired of me. I want you to assist me in any way you can with helping me get home, no matter how you feel about it. And I want you to promise never to lie to me.”

Sebastian tilted his head to the side and seemed vaguely amused by this.

"No lying? What an unusual idea. A vampire who always tells the truth to his human companion?”

“Yes, you must tell the truth to me. I don’t care who else you lie to, but never to me. Do you understand?”

Ciel was frustrated that the vampire clearly found this stipulation comical. He had known it would be difficult to get him to agree to it, but he saw no way around it. Ciel needed him to tell him the truth because he had no other connections with the outside world and he knew he would be dependent to a significant degree on information the vampire provided him.

Sebastian considered the boy’s words. Not being a particularly honest person by nature, it would not be easy for Sebastian to abide by. But would it not be an interesting challenge, to entice him entirely with the truth? And even if it proved to be exceedingly boring, it would not be for very long. Five years would pass much faster for Sebastian than for any human child.

“Very well, I will accept. But you must be aware, though I will agree to help you get home in any way I can, you cannot actually leave my side until our contract is complete.”

“I understand. I accept the terms as well.”

“Excellent,” said Sebastian, and he stepped closer to Ciel and put his left hand on the side of the boy’s face.

Ciel resisted the urge to step back.

“What are you doing?”

“If you are going to be my human companion, I must place my mark upon you.”

Ciel could feel his heartbeat speed up.

“Fine, do whatever you need to.” He knew he had no other choice. He felt the vampire’s hand shift over to cover his right eye, and then felt a sudden hot, sharp pain in his eye. He cried out and brought his hands up to cover it, moving the vampire’s hand out of the way. Both of his eyes began watering.

Sebastian waited patiently for the boy to remove his hands from his eye, then tilted his head up to get a proper look. _Beautiful,_ he thought. The sight of his own personal mark glowing purple on him was breathtaking. He leaned in and stared at the boy for a moment.

“What is your name?” asked Sebastian quietly.

“Ciel Phantomhive.”

“I am Sebastian Michaelis,” replied the vampire, and he unbuttoned his suit coat, removed it, and put it over Ciel’s shoulders. “We will need to leave now. You should wear this. It is cold outside, and it will also help to hide the bloodstains.” The stains were less visible on Sebastian’s black coat than on Ciel’s silver outfit.

Ciel slid his arms into the arms of the coat, which was much too large for him, and pulled it more tightly around himself. He followed Sebastian out of the room, glad to leave behind the corpses.

“Wait here,” said Sebastian, “There is one more thing I must do before we leave.”

Ciel watched as the vampire went back into the previous room for a moment. Just when he was beginning to wonder what he was doing, he heard the sound of flames and saw them flickering through the doorway. Sebastian came back and picked up Ciel in his arms.

"Now we can leave. It would be inconvenient if you left forensic evidence here for the police to collect."

Ciel struggled a little. "Hey, what are you doing? I can walk," he stated, though he wasn't sure how far.

The vampire gave him a skeptical look.

"Maybe, but you can't run nearly fast enough to avoid being seen covered in blood. Just hold on to me and I will take you out of here."

Ciel wanted to argue, but he did not have the energy. He held onto Sebastian’s shoulders as the world itself began blurring around him, leaning in to the warmth of his body as the cold air rushed past.


	3. Chapter 3

"We're here," Sebastian said quietly, and Ciel woke up, startled. He hadn't realized he had fallen asleep, or that he even could in this situation. He looked around and saw that they were standing outside at the door to a motel room, which Sebastian was in the middle of unlocking.

"I thought you said you were staying at a hotel," said Ciel.

"I was using the term inclusively. I prefer establishments where I can enter and leave without passing by humans every time. It is helpful in many situations, such as this one."

Sebastian entered the room with Ciel in his arms and closed the door behind him. He locked it and set Ciel down.

Ciel looked around the room. Everything in it looked ancient to his eyes. It had a television, a phone, and furniture that would not be out of place in a museum in his time. He only recognized the television and phone because of their resemblance to the icons still used in his time. The windows were covered with thick black drapes that didn't match any of the other decor. There was a small area that he guessed must be the kitchen, though he didn't recognize any of the appliances.

Sebastian looked at a clock on the wall and saw that there wasn't going to be much time left before it was morning, certainly not long enough to go anywhere. They were going to have many errands to run, but they would all have to wait for the following night. He went to the dresser and started looking through it for something to change into. Once he found a clean outfit, he began looking for something that would work for Ciel. Nothing he had was remotely close to Ciel’s size, but he thought one of his shirts might work as a sort of nightgown on him. It was a pleasant thought.

He took out a shirt and tossed it at Ciel, who was still standing there.

"Here, you can wear that for now. Tomorrow night we'll go out and get you some clothes that actually fit you, along with everything else you will need.”

Ciel held the shirt up against himself, to see how it would fit him. As Sebastian had guessed, it was about the length of a nightgown on him.

"Don't you have some pants or something I can wear too?"

"None that would stay up on you," replied Sebastian, smirking. "You're wearing underwear under that...thing you have on, right? Just keep those on under the shirt and it'll be fine."

Ciel frowned, but he couldn't see any way around it. He couldn't go anywhere by himself with no ability to speak the local language and no money. He also couldn't stand to spend the entire day in his blood-soaked outfit.

He went to what appeared to be the bathroom and shut the door behind him. He turned on the light and was startled when he saw himself in the mirror. He looked like an absolute mess. Not only was his outfit covered in blood, he also found after he removed Sebastian’s suit coat that he had it on the skin of his bare arms and neck, as well as his legs. His hair was disheveled and he looked much paler than usual.

However, he didn’t see anything unusual about his right eye. After the intensity of the burning he had felt, he had assumed whatever Sebastian did to it would be obvious, but even after looking more closely in the mirror he couldn’t identify anything different about it compared to his left eye. That was both relieving and disquieting.

He closed his eyes and concentrated and seams appeared on his outfit where there had been none before. Luckily, clothing controls were stored locally and did not require an Internet connection. If that had not been the case, cutting it off really would have been the only option. The seams separated and he was able to pull the jumpsuit down and off. He was glad to find that the blood hadn't soaked through to his underwear, so they were basically clean.

_Water on_ , he thought, and waited with his hands under the faucet, but nothing happened. Oh, right. Nothing worked in the past. He didn't want to have to ask Sebastian, though, and he soon figured out how to turn the water on manually. Then, after burning his hands a little, he figured out that he had to turn on both sides to get a balanced water temperature. He grabbed something that he vaguely recognized as a bar of soap and unwrapped it. He lathered his hands up and used them to wash the blood off of his arms, legs, neck, and everywhere else he could find any. He would have liked to have taken a bath, but he knew it would be complicated to figure out by himself and there was no way he was asking for help with that. He would have to figure it out when he was less tired. Truthfully, he did not really even know how to do it with his own technology. He had always had help with bathing and dressing from his servants.

When he was clean, he turned off the water and grabbed a towel and dried himself off. Then he pulled Sebastian's shirt over his head and put his arms through the arm holes. He quickly realized he had it on backwards and pulled his arms back in, shifted it around, and put his arms through again. He was pretty sure it was correct now. Fortunately there were no buttons or anything on it, as he did not think he would have been able to do them by himself.

He looked at himself in the mirror again. He looked a little better now. There was no blood on him, at least. He tried to get his hair in order with his fingers, but it didn't help much. The shirt he was wearing was a plain black t-shirt, and it went partway down his thighs. It was far too big for him, and he found it embarrassing to have to wear Sebastian's clothes. It was embarrassing to have to rely on Sebastian at all. But he knew he'd be in a much worse situation right now without him, terrifying though the process of being "rescued" was.

He opened the door and saw that Sebastian had changed as well, and had washed the blood from his hands. He was wearing a white dress shirt and black pants, and he was sitting in a chair reading something on a smartphone in his hands. 

Sebastian looked up when Ciel exited the bathroom and stared at him for a moment. _He_ _really_ _does_ _look_ _exceptionally_ _good_ _like_ _this_ , thought Sebastian. To have him wearing his clothes and his personal mark all in the same night felt very satisfying.

“Sebastian?” asked Ciel

“Yes?”

“Back there...at the warehouse, it felt like you did something to my eye. But when I looked in the mirror just now, it didn’t look any different. Why is that?”

“That’s because it is not intended to be viewed by humans, it is intended to be viewed by vampires. It serves multiple purposes, but none of them would benefit from having you stand out from your fellow humans to other humans.”

“What are these…purposes?” asked Ciel, and he went and sat down on the bed and leaned back against the headboard.

“The first is that it allows me to keep track of where you are. This will make it much easier for me to provide you with protection, as was agreed upon. The second is that it allows you to send me telepathic messages, just as I did to you before. This will allow us to communicate with no risk of being overheard, either by humans or by vampires.”

Ciel was less bothered by the fact that Sebastian had essentially placed a tracking device on him than would have been the case for a person of the current era. In his time, most people’s movements were being tracked all the time, and he was well accustomed to it.

“If those are the purposes, why does it have to be visible to vampires?” he asked.

Sebastian did not answer immediately. He leaned back and thought about how he wanted to respond.

“It is important for us to be able to easily identify which humans are available and which are already taken. When we see a human with someone else’s mark, we know that to attempt to take that human for ourselves will be met with fierce resistance by the vampire who placed it. It is, in essence, a warning.”

_So_ _he_ _put_ _a_ _‘he’s_ _mine’_ _sign_ _on_ _me_ _to_ _ward_ _off_ _other_ _vampires_? _How_... _animalistic_ , thought Ciel. He didn’t like the idea of being considered to be effectively Sebastian’s property. But it would also be troublesome if multiple vampires started fighting over him. He had no way of knowing if any other vampire would be more useful to him than Sebastian, but so far Sebastian had proven his worth, irritating and somewhat terrifying though he was.

He decided to try his new telepathic capabilities.

“Sebastian, can you hear this?” He formulated the thought mentally, then tried to push it towards Sebastian across the room. He saw immediate recognition on Sebastian’s face and knew that it had worked.

“Yes, good job,” replied Sebastian, who also switched to transmitting his thoughts directly instead of speaking out loud.

“Will I be able to do this with anyone now?”

“No, only with me.”

That dashed Ciel’s brief thought that this might have been useful as a method of communication with the outside world.

“You know,” continued Sebastian, “It is also possible to transmit images as well as verbal information. Take a look at this.” He concentrated on forming a clear mental image of what Ciel looked like to him at the moment, then sent it to him.

Ciel’s expression grew shocked when a crystal clear image of himself suddenly appeared in his head. He looked similar to how he would have imagined, with the largest exception being that his right eye had a glowing purple mark on it, which was quite detailed and intricate. He also looked a bit smaller, though he could not be sure if that was because he was wearing Sebastian’s overly-large shirt or if it was just that Sebastian thought of him as small.

“ _That’s_ how I look now?”

“To my eyes.”

“...am I really that small?”

“The image I sent is exactly how you look to me,” replied Sebastian with an infuriating smile.

Ciel blushed slightly.

“Then you have poor vision.”

Ciel was startled when Sebastian suddenly stood up and walked across the room towards him. He watched Sebastian lean in closer to him and place a hand on the side of his face, tilting it up.

“No, my vision is excellent. Do you know what else is too?” asked Sebastian, and Ciel’s heart began to race as Sebastian leaned in further. At first he thought the vampire meant to kiss him, but then his head was tilted to the side a bit and Sebastian instead brought his face near Ciel’s neck and breathed in, slowly and deeply. 

“My sense of smell,” concluded Sebastian, and he brought his other hand to Ciel’s side to hold him in place.

Ciel tried to steady his own breathing, not wanting to appear nervous. He had known this was coming, and he wanted to accept it in as dignified a manner as possible.

“You’re going to do it now, then?”

Sebastian closed his eyes, nearly overwhelmed by Ciel’s scent this close up. His fangs extended, and it was all he could do not to roughly and suddenly bite him.

“Yes,” he said. “I will try not to take too much since you’re so small and it’s your first time.”

Ciel brought one hand to Sebastian’s shoulder to hold onto him.

“You don’t have to treat me any more gently than anyone else. I can handle it.”

Sebastian tightened his grip on Ciel’s side and slid his fangs into Ciel’s neck. Blood rushed into his mouth and it was the most heavenly thing he had ever tasted, so warm and luscious that he was nearly inclined to do as Ciel had said and take as much as he would have from an adult. He heard Ciel cry out and he shifted the hand that was on his face to cover his mouth, not too tightly, just enough to prevent any suspicious sounds from leaving the room. He knelt down on the bed in front of Ciel and he felt Ciel tighten his grip on his shoulder.

At first, the feeling of Sebastian’s fangs entering his neck was like two impossibly sharp knives sliding into his body, but after a moment passed and he started to relax, Ciel found that the pain was starting to disappear and a strange, almost pleasurable tingling sensation was replacing it. He felt warm with Sebastian’s body so close to his, and he closed his eyes as he felt Sebastian slowly slide his hand down his side and under his shirt.

He knew he should protest, as that could not possibly be a necessary part of the blood drinking ritual, but when he felt the sensation of Sebastian’s hand on his bare side it made something in his stomach clench in a way he had never felt before and he found he very much wanted to feel it again.

Sebastian savored the taste of Ciel’s blood on his tongue and the feeling of his skin against his own. _This_ was what he had been missing in life. He knew then that anything he might have to do to keep Ciel would be worth it for this. He would slaughter entire armies to keep him safe, here, with him.

_I_ _have_ _to_ _be_ _careful_ , he thought dimly, having difficulty concentrating. _He_ _can’t_ _take_ _much_ _more_.

With great reluctance, Sebastian pulled his fangs back from Ciel’s neck, and as they slid out, blood welled up from the two wounds. He stated at it for a second, finding the sight inherently fascinating, then leaned back in and ran his tongue carefully over them, delighting in this final taste of Ciel. He removed his hand from Ciel’s mouth and slid it under Ciel’s shirt on the boy’s other side, wanting to feel him with both hands, just for a moment. 

Ciel let out a small gasp as he felt Sebastian’s tongue slide smoothly over the wounds on his neck and his other hand shift under his shirt to touch his other side. He brought his other arm up and wrapped both around Sebastian’s neck as he felt a sharp jolt of something he would later realize was arousal in his lower stomach.

“S-Sebastian…” he said quietly, out loud, and tilted his head slightly to give Sebastian better access to his neck.

Sebastian wanted nothing more than to shift the boy down on the bed and take him then and there. He was so soft, so warm, so compliant in his hands…and he had given up his blood willingly, without a hint of complaint. He was truly a spectacular human. But Sebastian knew that though Ciel was clearly experiencing many of the same physical feelings towards him as he was towards Ciel, the boy was not yet ready for much more than this. He thought it would likely go better if he carefully and deliberately worked his way up to the things he wanted most.

He gave Ciel’s neck another slow and leisurely lick, then pulled back and looked at it. The bleeding had almost completely stopped. He slid his hands down Ciel’s sides to his hips, trying to memorize the feeling, before finally removing them from under his shirt. He felt Ciel’s arms come apart from around his neck. Ciel looked dazed and tired.

“How was that?” asked Sebastian softly, transmitting the message directly into Ciel’s head.

Ciel did not know how to respond. He felt lightheaded and a bit dizzy.

“...it...wasn’t as painful as I expected,” he said after a moment. He was vaguely frustrated, but couldn’t explain why. He just knew he wasn’t ready for it to be over with.

“Good. You did well,” replied Sebastian, and he shifted off the bed and stood back up. He slid his arms under Ciel’s body and easily re-adjusted him so he was laying down. “You should sleep now,” he continued. “We will have a lot to do tonight, and you will need your rest.” He pulled the blankets up around Ciel.

Ciel felt very drowsy, but he was still aware that there was only one bed. Was Sebastian going to try to sleep in it with him? Did vampires even sleep? The thought of Sebastian climbing into bed with him made him blush.

He decided to try not to worry about it for the moment. He shifted further under the blankets.

“Can you turn the lights off?” he asked.

“Yes,” replied Sebastian, and he went around the room and did so. He did not intend to go to bed yet, and was not sure if he would at all that day, but he would have no difficulty seeing in the room even with the lights off.

When the room was dark, Ciel brought his hand up to the side of his neck and carefully felt the holes that had been left there. His neck was still wet from Sebastian’s saliva, and the memory of what it had felt like as Sebastian licked his neck made him shift uncomfortably and press his thighs together.

When he had agreed to give Sebastian his blood in exchange for having his own demands met, he had expected that doing so would be physically painful and that it would be a chore for him to get through each time. But it had been nothing like what he had imagined, and he now found himself wondering how long it would be before the next time Sebastian would want to drink from him.

* * *

Sebastian watched Ciel for a moment in the darkness, then went into the bathroom and closed the door quietly behind him. He needed to calm himself down, and as he had already at least partially satiated his lust for Ciel’s blood, that only left one other type. 

He leaned back against the sink and unbuttoned his pants. He slid his hand into his underwear and pulled out his cock, which was already hard, and began stroking it. He allowed thoughts of his newly formed memories of Ciel to fill his mind, conjuring up the boy’s scent, the taste of his blood, the soft feeling of his skin under his hands.

He wondered what it would feel like to have Ciel’s smaller hands stroke him like this, or to have his little mouth struggle to take him in. He imagined it would be so warm and wet, so inviting. He pictured Ciel trying his best, looking up at him with his beautiful eyes, making little noises as Sebastian pressed deeper inside. He could feel himself getting close at that thought and he tightened his grip on himself, speeding up his strokes. He imagined Ciel taking him deeper into his mouth and using his hands to stroke the parts he couldn’t reach, and after picturing that vividly for a moment he came, making a mess on the floor in front of him. He let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding and closed his eyes.

_What am I going to do about him?_ he thought. His mind still felt clouded. Even with the door closed, he could faintly smell Ciel’s scent, and though he had already taken some of Ciel’s blood, it did not feel like enough. But if he wanted to keep Ciel available to himself over the long term, he would have to be careful with him. He was so small and delicate. It would be so easy to accidentally hurt him. He would need to take more care than he had ever taken with any human before.

Sebastian was not accustomed to restraining himself from things he wanted. There was normally no reason to bother. But he had a feeling that in this case, if he could manage it, the payoff would be well worth the wait.

He put himself back into his pants and re-buttoned them, then cleaned the mess he had made in the bathroom. He wanted to sleep, as he did generally sleep during the day, but he did not think it would be a good idea this time. He had already been planning to move to a new hotel, but now that he had Ciel with him it was more vital than before as they would need to switch to a room with two beds, both to avoid suspicion and to give Sebastian a way to bolster his self-control for the time being.

_There is so much work that will need to be done,_ he thought. He would have to come up with fake identities for both of them, a cover story that would explain in an unquestionable manner why they were traveling together, congruent official documentation of such...it could all be accomplished, but it would take time to arrange everything. And it would all have to be done while providing all of the care Ciel needed.

He opened the bathroom door as quietly as possible and looked out into the bedroom. Ciel appeared to be asleep, and he did not want to disturb him. He gathered up all of their blood-stained clothes and brought them into the bathroom to wash. Between that task and others he had in mind, he had more than enough to occupy his time for the day until it was dark enough to go outside again. He would also have to get Ciel something to wear before they could both leave, as Ciel’s silver outfit was far too strange and would attract a great amount of attention.


	4. Chapter 4

When Ciel woke up, he found that Sebastian had already been up for quite a while and had packed up nearly all of his personal effects in the motel room. Ciel saw that his outfit was hanging in the bathroom, drying, along with Sebastian's outfit from the previous night. Somehow, Sebastian had removed the blood stains from both. Ciel didn't know anything about laundering, but he had assumed that would be difficult and he was relieved his outfit was not permanently ruined.

He noticed a new outfit was sitting on the bedside table next to him, one he didn't recognize. He unfolded the shirt and noticed it was much closer to being his size than the one he was currently wearing.

"Good, you're up. I went out as soon as it was dark and got you something to wear to the store. You can't wear that silver thing I washed, it's too flashy," said Sebastian. "Try to get dressed quickly, we need to leave soon."

Ciel set the shirt aside and unfolded the pants and found that those too appeared to be nearly exactly the right size. He took both the shirt and the pants into the bathroom and closed the door.

He looked at himself in the mirror and noticed that the wounds on his neck were much smaller and less noticeable than he had expected. They seemed to have healed to a significant degree in such a short amount of time. He touched them curiously and found that they didn’t hurt.

He stripped off the nightshirt he was wearing and held up the new shirt. It was a dark blue, button-down shirt with long sleeves. He was able to get his arms into it, and he decided to put on the pants before trying to get the buttons done up. The pants were simple black dress pants, and he slipped his legs into them and pulled them up. They did fit him quite well. He wondered how Sebastian had managed to guess his size so accurately.

Ciel tried valiantly to button the buttons on his shirt and pants, and he got some of the shirt buttons together, but they somehow didn't seem to be lined up properly. He had never had to button clothes before. Clothing in his time didn't even have buttons, and if it had, his servants would have done them for him.

He heard a sudden knock at the door and jumped a little.

"Are you nearly done? I've packed everything up into the car," said Sebastian.

Ciel felt his face turning red.

"I...I can't get the buttons done," he admitted.

"Do you mind if I do them for you?"

Ciel hated it, but there was no other option. "Okay," he said, and Sebastian opened the door and knelt down in front of Ciel.

"You've really mixed up some of these buttons," said Sebastian as he undid the ones Ciel had completed on his shirt. Ciel watched as Sebastian deftly rebuttoned the buttons on his shirt, getting them all in the proper order with no difficulty. He left the upper one undone and adjusted Ciel's collar a little so that it sat properly on his neck. Ciel's body felt uncomfortably warm. Something about having Sebastian so close and kneeling in front of him made him feel strange. The feeling intensified as he felt Sebastian button and zip his pants.

Sebastian paused to take a look at Ciel's outfit. It wasn't ideal, but it would do. He had picked something that he hoped would be warm enough for the cold weather and would cover up the residual wounds on Ciel’s neck, which Sebastian was pleased to see were healing nicely. He could feel the heat radiating off of Ciel's body from being in close proximity to him and was gratified. He stood back up and picked up a brush off the counter and started carefully brushing Ciel's hair. It was quite messy from sleep, but Sebastian was able to get it in order relatively quickly.

"There. Now get your shoes on," he said, and as Ciel went to do so, Sebastian packed up the rest of their items from the bathroom and did one final check of the motel room to ensure he had not missed anything. Even his drapes had been taken down and loaded up already. The only thing left was Ciel.

He brought the rest of the items out to the car as Ciel put his boots on, which were the only shoes he had with him. Then Ciel followed him outside and he slipped the room key into a drop box near the rental office.

Ciel got into the passenger side of the car and watched as Sebastian climbed into the driver's side and started the car. He had never been in a vehicle driven by a person rather than by itself, which made him a little nervous. Sebastian was staring at him like he was waiting for something.

"What?" he asked.

"Are you going to buckle up?" said Sebastian.

"Um..."

"Do you need me to do that for you too?"

"I guess," replied Ciel, and he felt his face get red again as Sebastian leaned over and put his seatbelt on, which involved him reaching straight across Ciel's body.

Ciel looked out the window as they left the parking lot. He was no longer tired after having slept all day, but he felt a little out of it. Was that because his circadian rhythm was all messed up now due to Sebastian's nocturnal activity pattern, or was it because of his blood loss? He wasn’t sure.

He felt his stomach growl and he became aware that he was exceedingly hungry. He had not eaten anything since arriving in the past, and he was not sure he had the energy to go shopping on an empty stomach.

“Can we get something to eat first? I’m hungry.”

Sebastian glanced over at him. "Sure, you can get something," he said. "What kind of food do you want?”

Ciel shrugged. "I'm not sure what kind of restaurants they have here," he said. "Pick something you think I'd like. Maybe something with a lot of options."

In the end, against Sebastian’s better judgment, he was forced by circumstance to take Ciel to a fast food restaurant, as he could not find anything else open. He did not like the idea of Ciel eating that sort of fare, as unhealthy eating might affect the taste of his blood, but he did not see any other option until they could go grocery shopping.

_Am I going to have to learn to cook?_ he thought. He had not had to concern himself with human eating habits or recipes in centuries and he had no idea what such things were like nowadays. But something told him it was unlikely that Ciel had any idea how to make meals for himself. Having a human companion this young was proving to be even more work than he had anticipated. But there would be benefits to having Ciel be completely dependent on him for everything.

Ciel ended up quite enjoying his meal, as it was the sort of thing his parents usually didn’t let him eat. And though Sebastian had complained about it, he even let Ciel get a shake as his drink. Ciel was quite fond of sweet things, and Sebastian made a mental note to keep that in mind once he noticed this.

Sebastian had parked the car as Ciel ate and was reading the news idly on his phone, finding little of interest initially, until one story caught his attention.

“Take a look at this,” he said, and he showed Ciel the story. He knew the boy would not be able to read the text, but it had a photograph he thought Ciel would recognize. 

Ciel grabbed Sebastian’s phone to get a better look, and what he saw made his heartbeat speed up. The photo included with the story was of the warehouse he had been held prisoner in, where he had met Sebastian, and it was on fire. Apparently the fire had gotten much worse after they left and had nearly completely engulfed the entire building.

“Read me the article,” said Ciel after a moment, handing the phone back to him.

"Well, let's see," began Sebastian, taking the phone back. "'Mysterious Warehouse Fire Baffles Authorities; Multiple Corpses Found Inside'. That's the headline." He skimmed the story. "It seems they're having difficulty finding the type of accelerant used. How unfortunate for them. Some of the corpses were burned so badly they couldn't identify them. No current suspects. Terrible business, don't you think?"

Ciel glared at him and didn't answer. He wasn't sure how he felt about that. Just remembering what had happened there made him a little nauseous, but he tried to ignore it and eat his meal. He needed to keep something down. He knew he would need energy to deal with Sebastian.

"Is there anything else of note?" he asked after a while.

"No, that's it for now. But don't worry, they've got multiple detectives on the case," replied Sebastian, who seemed to be quite pleased with himself.

“Why are you so flippant about this?” asked Ciel. “We’re fugitives now.” Even though he knew Sebastian could probably protect both of them from the police, that didn’t mean it was irrelevant that they could become suspects. How had he gotten caught up in all of this? First the broken time machine, then selling his blood to a vampire for protection, and now being a fugitive...

“Because I know I haven’t made any mistakes,” replied Sebastian, and this time he transmitted the message directly into Ciel’s mind. “I don’t leave forensic evidence, and I made sure what you left was burned. No one will ever know you were there. And even if they did, I would never allow anyone to take you away from me.”

Ciel looked at him, feeling strange. There was something about that last statement that reminded him of the way he had felt when Sebastian had been drinking his blood.

“...are you really sure there’s nothing to worry about?” he asked after a moment, taking Sebastian’s cue and responding telepathically. He wanted to believe it, but he had grown up in an era when evading the police was nearly impossible except in the barely-governed zones with limited Internet access. Though he knew the police here would not have the same capabilities, it was hard for him to get his limbic system to understand that.

“Of course. Most humans have no idea that vampires exist, and there’s a reason we work to maintain that state of affairs. It’s because it makes it easy for us to live as we please without having to concern ourselves with human conceptions of law or morality. And now that you are mine, you too no longer need to concern yourself with such things. Simply allow me to take care of everything for you,” replied Sebastian, and he reached out to gently smooth Ciel’s hair, enjoying the soft feeling of it under his fingers.

Ciel reached up and removed Sebastian’s hand from his head, frowning.

“I’m not _‘yours’,_ ” he began, “We simply have a deal, that’s all. And there’s a lot of things I can’t leave to you, like bringing me home. But I suppose I can probably trust you to protect me from the police.”

_He_ _doesn’t_ _really_ _understand_ _his_ _situation_ _yet_ , thought Sebastian. That was a little disappointing, but reasonable given the circumstances. He would have plenty of time to learn it.

“You can,” he replied. “Are you ready to go shopping now? You’re not hungry anymore?” He was not sure how much human children needed to eat.

Ciel briefly got out of the car and threw his garbage away, then got back in.

“I’m done, we can go now,” he said, and buckled himself in this time.

* * *

Sebastian’s nocturnal schedule proved to be a barrier to proper shopping as well. He wanted to take Ciel to a proper department store for clothing, but they were all closed, and while he was more than capable of breaking in, it would be tedious to do so with Ciel.

Driven by the necessity of getting basic supplies for the boy, he ended up taking him to a big box store that was open 24 hours per day. Ciel had never been to a place like that as his servants generally took care of the shopping for his family, so it was a new experience and he couldn’t stop looking around at all the strange, archaic items on the shelves.

Sebastian found the selection of boys’ clothing options abysmal. Almost none of it was remotely suitable in his mind. He felt as though modern day people were deliberately making it as ugly as possible. Graphic tees, baggy shorts, light-up sneakers with cartoon characters on them…there was no way he could tolerate having Ciel dress like that.

He glanced over at the nearby girls’ section, which was very slightly better but only in a marginal way, then gave up on that idea. He thought it was unlikely he would be able to convince Ciel to wear anything from that section.

Eventually he ended up picking out a selection mostly consisting of plain dress shirts, dress pants, and some jeans (which he was not a fan of but which Ciel had chosen himself), along with a few pairs of pajama pants and shirts. He also picked out Ciel’s socks, ensuring that his preferred knee-high options were chosen in black, white, and gray. Ciel had absolutely insisted upon picking out his underwear by himself with no input whatsoever from Sebastian, but his choice was ultimately acceptable, so Sebastian made no objections to this.

When it came time to pick out shoes, Sebastian was delighted to learn that Ciel enjoyed wearing shoes with heels. He had never expected the boy to have that preference, but he fully supported it and did his best to find good-looking options.

Sebastian brought some shoes to Ciel, who was sitting down, and knelt down in front of him to help him try them on. He knew Ciel would not be able to do the clasps himself, and it would be simpler if Sebastian did them for him.

Ciel allowed boots to be removed and the new shoes to be placed onto his feet. He watched as Sebastian worked. _He_ ’s _so_ _good_ _at_ _this_ _type_ _of_ _thing_ , he thought. _But_ _why_ _does_ _he_ _bother_ _to_ _do_ _it_ _for_ _me_? It was not a part of their contract. Was it not tiresome?

When Sebastian was finished putting the new shoes on him, Ciel stood up and walked around a little and found that he quite liked them. They were black dress shoes, simple, with a small heel that gave him perhaps another inch in height.

He sat back down and allowed Sebastian to help him take them back off.

“Don’t you find it boring to help me with stuff like this?” he asked.

Sebastian looked up at him.

“No, I do not mind helping you dress in the least. And I believe there is an argument to be made that taking care of you is a form of protecting you. Since you are so young, I have to protect you from your own inability to do basic tasks as well as from outside threats.”

Ciel felt Sebastian’s hand brush against his calf as he re-adjusted Ciel’s sock and the end of his pants.

“I’m not _that_ young,” protested Ciel. “And the only reason I don’t know how to do these things is because I never had to before...but I can learn how.”

“You’re what, eleven? Twelve? I have been alive for centuries. You are exceptionally young.”

“I’m thirteen!” replied Ciel, embarrassed to be mistaken for younger.

Sebastian found this quite amusing. 

“Then you’re an unusually small thirteen-year-old. Is this why you like to wear shoes with heels?”

“The reason I wear them is none of your business,” replied Ciel, who could feel his face getting red.

Sebastian finished taking the shoes off of Ciel that he had been trying on and put the old ones back on. He stood up.

“Very well, you can just let me assume it is. Now, we still have much to get.”

They picked up many other items Ciel needed, including a toothbrush and a hair brush, and Ciel protested when Sebastian stopped in the makeup section and started trying to find concealer that matched Ciel’s skin tone.

“Why would I need that? I don’t wear makeup,” he said irritably.

Sebastian decided he would have to explain it carefully.

“There will come a time, especially when it gets warmer outside, when you will want to wear a shirt without a collar. When you do so, you will need a way to hide any marks on your neck.”

Ciel reflexively touched the side of his neck that Sebastian had bitten. He looked around, uncomfortable that they were talking about this in public, though he knew that since they were speaking in his own language, no one would be able to understand.

“T-That…” he began, then looked away. “I suppose. But wouldn’t a band-aid work?”

“It would make it look like something else entirely happened to your neck. Concealer is the preferable choice. I can even help you put it on so it won’t be visible.”

“Fine.”

Sebastian sorted through the options carefully until he found one that was a nearly perfect match for Ciel’s skin, which he put into the cart with their other items.

That left only groceries, which were difficult for both of them to shop for. The last time Sebastian had been human, modern grocery stores had not existed, and he was not familiar with much of the modern human diet. Ciel, meanwhile, had never had to shop for his own groceries. His servants took care of the shopping and the cooking, so he didn’t have to think about anything except eating the meal.

Sebastian decided to focus on things he knew something about. He recognized basic items like meats, produce, and vegetables, and he bought some of each to try cooking for Ciel. He also bought some pasta, bread, cheese, milk, and tea, hoping that if he obtained a variety of goods, Ciel would end up liking something.

Ciel had no particular objections, as he was accustomed to allowing others to pick out his meals, but he did insist upon getting at least one type of cake. It was a test, really, to see if Sebastian would give in, and eventually he did let Ciel pick one option from the bakery, allowing Ciel to feel victorious.


	5. Chapter 5

Ciel looked around their new hotel room as Sebastian put away their purchases and his own property from the car. This one was nicer than the previous one, though it was technically still a motel as it opened directly to the outside instead of into a hallway, and it had two beds. He jumped onto one, claiming it as his own, and watched as Sebastian started putting up his own drapes over the top of the ones that came with the room.

“Do you really need those?” he asked. The ones that came with the room seemed pretty thick to him.

“Yes, these are special. They’re manufactured specifically for my kind. The ones humans make cannot compare.”

“What would happen if I opened them during the day?” asked Ciel, with an impish smile. He was curious as to Sebastian’s exact degree of light sensitivity.

Suddenly, Sebastian was standing in front of him, having moved more quickly than Ciel could see. He felt Sebastian grab his face and lean in close to him. Ciel brought both hands up to Sebastian’s wrist and tried to remove him, but it was impossible.

“...I would not die, but I might kill you, so don’t do it,” replied Sebastian after a moment of staring down at Ciel.

“Okay, I won’t, I wasn’t even serious about doing it. Let me go!”

Sebastian waited a moment, enjoying the opportunity to get a close and careful look at Ciel’s beautiful eyes, before suddenly releasing him.

“You are an impetuous little brat sometimes, did you know that?”

Ciel looked up at him warily, rubbing his cheek a little where Sebastian had grabbed him. He refused to answer. His heart was pounding, but he did his best to hide his fear and appear angry instead at being accosted.

Sebastian could smell Ciel’s scent strongly this close, and combined with Ciel’s poorly-disguised nervous look, it made him want to bite him roughly, scratch his delicate skin, and remind him who he belonged to. He picked Ciel up in his arms and buried his face against his neck, allowing the boy’s scent to become almost overwhelmingly powerful.

Ciel felt his heartbeat speed up even more when he was picked up. It was too fast, too sudden.

“You...you could at least warn me!” he said, briefly struggling against Sebastian’s grip. He felt Sebastian slightly tighten his arms around him and realized there was no point, no possibility of escape.

Sebastian carried Ciel to the dresser and sat him down on it. It was at about the height of Sebastian’s waist, and Ciel was much more comfortably accessible to him while sitting up on top of it.

“Normally I wouldn’t do it this often,” said Sebastian, and he started undoing the buttons on Ciel’s shirt. “But since you’re so small, I can’t take the usual amount each time. That means I have to do it more frequently.”

Ciel watched as Sebastian undid all of the buttons on his shirt. _Will he really be doing this every day?_ he thought. It made him apprehensive. But deep down, even despite his fear, he was a bit excited as well.

Sebastian paused once he had fully unbuttoned Ciel’s shirt to take a look at his bare chest. He moved the collar away from Ciel’s neck, to ensure convenient access to it. He had not genuinely needed to completely unbutton the shirt, as only undoing the top half or so would have worked, but Ciel looked so appealing like this, with his smooth skin fully visible and his small pink nipples exposed.

He leaned his head near the side of Ciel’s neck he had not bitten before, feeling a desire to mark his skin everywhere, and he felt his fangs extend. He brought his hands to Ciel’s sides to hold him still as he bit down, fangs sliding deeply into his neck. For a moment, he lost focus on everything else in the world as Ciel’s blood filled his mouth, as sweet and delicious as last time. He could feel Ciel’s heart beating quickly, and it caused his blood to flow faster into Sebastian’s mouth, which he drank hungrily.

Ciel couldn’t help but tense up momentarily as he felt Sebastian’s fangs slide into his neck, but he knew the pain would pass quickly, and when it did he wrapped his arms around Sebastian’s neck, feeling the need to hold onto him. He felt Sebastian’s warm hands on his sides start to move up, caressing his chest, and when Sebastian ran a fingertip over one of his nipples he made a soft noise. The pleasant tingling feeling in his neck was back, and he slid the fingers of one hand into Sebastian’s hair, gripping it as the vampire drank.

Sebastian bit down slightly harder when he heard Ciel respond to his touches. He felt the boy’s hand in his hair and responded by giving both of Ciel’s nipples attention, just for a brief moment. This caused Ciel to make another quiet sound, nearly breathless, but with a clear note of pleasure. Sebastian shifted Ciel’s legs apart so he could bring his body between them, closer to him.

“Why…” began Ciel quietly. “Why does this...feel..” He trailed off, unable to bring himself to say it.

Sebastian pulled his fangs out of Ciel’s neck slowly and gave it a careful and deliberate lick.

“In this spot,” he began to respond when he was finished, “it feels good because there is a component of my saliva that promotes rapid wound healing in humans. It is a pleasant experience.”

He gave Ciel’s neck another lick to clean away a bit of residual blood, then pulled back and looked at him. He knew Ciel couldn’t afford to lose much more, but he was not yet prepared to be finished. Though he knew he needed to go slowly with the boy, he also needed to touch him a little more, mark him, make him understand that he was Sebastian’s now.

He brought one hand to the middle of Ciel’s chest and ran a couple of his nails down to his stomach, leaving scratches. They were hardly deep at all, made with his human nails and not his claws, but they drew blood, and Ciel pulled back and removed his arms from around Sebastian’s neck.

“What are you doing?” protested Ciel, feeling the sting of the scratches.

Sebastian did not answer, and instead leaned down and brought his face level with Ciel’s stomach. He held onto Ciel’s sides as he licked the scratches, slowly making his way up the boy’s chest, reveling in the taste.

Ciel felt heat pool in his lower stomach as Sebastian began licking the scratches. As had happened on his neck, the scratches began tingling and the pain nearly disappeared when Sebastian’s tongue ran over them. He shifted a little as his pants began feeling uncomfortably tight.

When he made his way to the top of the scratches, Sebastian simply pressed his face against Ciel’s chest for a moment, sliding one arm around Ciel’s waist and luxuriating in his scent, his warmth, and his general presence. _This is what life was meant to be like,_ he thought. Then he stood back up and removed his arm from around Ciel.

“See, they don’t hurt anymore, do they?” he asked.

“I...n-no, they don’t…” replied Ciel, and he tentatively touched the scratches on his chest. That did elicit some pain, but only a little, and he could still feel some of the tingling he had felt while Sebastian had been licking them. 

Sebastian lifted Ciel off of the dresser and set him on the ground. He pulled out a pair of pajamas from one of the drawers he had placed Ciel’s items in and handed it to Ciel.

“You should get changed so you can sleep,” he said.

Ciel took the pajamas and went to the bathroom.

* * *

In the bathroom, Ciel easily removed his shirt, which had already been unbuttoned, and managed to shove his pants down without having to get the button undone. He found that he was uncomfortably erect, and he was not sure what to do about it.

_Why does he have to do things that...cause this?_ he thought. It wasn’t rational, and his own body’s responses weren’t either. He slid his hand tentatively into his underwear and wrapped it around his small cock, then used his other hand to move his underwear out of the way. _Should I just...do it myself?_ he thought. _Will Sebastian be able to tell?_ He couldn’t bear for him to find out. The vampire would certainly have some sort of embarrassing comment to make. He would have to be as quiet as possible.

He had never really tried before, not beyond a few curious rubs here and there, but this time he tried gripping himself and began to haphazardly stroke his cock, moving his hand up and down. He wasn’t sure what kind of rhythm to use or how tight to grip, but it felt good, and his cock was desperate for the contact. He grabbed the counter with his free hand as he stroked himself. He could feel something building in him, and he focused on keeping his mouth closed to stay quiet.

He closed his eyes and thought of the way Sebastian’s tongue had felt on his stomach and chest, the way his fingers felt on his nipples, the sharp pain and subsequent pleasure of his fangs in his neck. His strokes felt better then, when he kept these images in his mind, and he tightened his grip a little and started to stroke himself faster.

He wondered what it would feel like if Sebastian was doing this for him, and at that thought the pleasure that had been building suddenly released, coursing through his body. To his surprise, he managed to remain quiet, though it took all of his willpower to do so. He felt his legs trembling a little.

He stood there, breathing heavily for a moment, before he obtained clarity of mind again and realized he had made a mess. He grabbed some toilet paper and used that to clean it up, hoping that would be sufficient.

As he got dressed in his pajamas, his mind began to race. What was he going to do? He had to keep this a secret. Sebastian was already rather inclined to touch him, and he was sure that would increase if Sebastian knew he was having this sort of physical reaction to it. He did not understand why, but he knew the vampire was interested in more than just his blood, and if he were to show reciprocal interest… He felt like he was walking along the edge of a gaping chasm. It would be so easy to fall in and impossible to climb back out.

_I can’t let myself get distracted_ , he thought. _I need to focus on what’s important, trying to get home._ He finished getting dressed and took one last look at the bathroom, to make sure he hadn’t missed anything while cleaning, and he did not see anything unusual. He exited the bathroom and went to bed.


	6. Chapter 6

Over the course of the next couple of weeks, Ciel spent most of his time indoors. They moved hotels a couple of times, and Sebastian took Ciel to the store when he requested to go, but other than that he had little else he had to do. He tried to use his newfound abundance of free time to work on his ultimate goal of getting home, but it was slow going. After seeing Sebastian using a laptop, he had convinced him to let him use it when he wasn’t busy on it himself, and Sebastian had created Ciel his own user profile, but he had difficulty navigating the unfamiliar interface. He also couldn’t set the language to his own as it was not an option, so he had to struggle through it in the current time period’s English.

With perseverance, he learned how to search for information on the internet (which was a mere drop-in-the-bucket version of the Internet he was accustomed to), and he made Sebastian translate certain key search terms for him so he could use them, but this proved fruitless because he couldn’t read the articles that came up when he did, and Sebastian frequently left him alone at night and was thus unavailable to read them to him.

This had initially made him nervous, as the entire reason he had wanted Sebastian around in the first place was to protect him, but Sebastian assured him that he would come back if Ciel was in trouble and that Ciel could always call for him mentally if he needed him. Ciel had questioned Sebastian about where he was going and what he was doing, but he always gave vague answers like “I’m working” or “I’m obtaining things we need.”

Was Sebastian lying to him? He didn’t think so, but he did feel certain that Sebastian couldn’t possibly have anything a normal person would recognize as a job. The times he left were too intermittent and random, and Sebastian was always able to make time for Ciel if he had a genuine request that required Sebastian’s attention.

When he was home, Sebastian made meals for Ciel, and though the early ones had been bad, his cooking abilities had improved quickly and he was now able to make acceptable meals the vast majority of the time. He additionally made sure that there was always something simple available that Ciel could make for himself in case he got hungry when Sebastian was gone.

Sebastian had continued to drink Ciel’s blood nearly every day, with the exception of one day where he believed Ciel looked too pale and was growing anemic. This had resulted in an iron supplement being added to Ciel’s daily routine, which Ciel hated, as he considered the pills of the current era barbaric and uncivilized due to their large size. Sebastian had been left with no other option but to threaten to physically force them down Ciel’s throat to get him to take them.

Though he had intended to attempt to put some distance between them during the blood drinking episodes, Ciel had not managed to accomplish it, largely due to his resolve wavering each time it started. Sebastian always took Ciel’s shirt off entirely now, and Ciel’s chest and sides usually had scratches and bite marks. The only reason he wasn’t absolutely covered with them was due to the quick healing effect of Sebastian’s saliva, which he always made sure to use on all of Ciel’s wounds.

Part of Ciel couldn’t believe he was allowing this. There was nothing in their contract that obligated him to allow Sebastian to do anything more than drinking his blood. But for some reason, possibly because he was going through puberty, he craved the physical attention and he had no one else to get it from other than Sebastian. He knew it was wrong and that the vampire was far too old for him. He knew it was something he could never tell anyone about, because how could he even begin to explain why he voluntarily gave more than was strictly necessary? The only way to explain it would be to admit he found Sebastian attractive, and he couldn’t tell a single soul that secret. He didn’t even want to know it himself.

Still, it was true, he _did_ find him attractive. His tall stature, long legs, silky black hair, the way he would hold him in his arms… There were so many things he liked about him. Sebastian made him feel protected and wanted, and now that he was cut off from everyone else he had ever known, alone, feeling protected and wanted felt very good.

But it frustrated him that Sebastian was keeping secrets from him. Although their contract did not allow Sebastian to lie to Ciel, it did not mandate him to answer Ciel’s questions, or to give thorough and detailed responses to each question, and Sebastian took full advantage of these loopholes whenever he didn’t want to tell Ciel something.

Ciel decided he needed to know more. Therefore, one night when Sebastian was preparing to leave, Ciel stopped him.

“I want to come with,” he said.

Sebastian looked down at him with a mildly surprised expression.

“You want to come with while I...work?”

“Yes. I know you don’t have a real job. I’m not an idiot. I want to know what you’ve been doing without me.”

Sebastian considered this proposal. He had known such a request would likely be coming soon, but he wasn’t sure if he should allow Ciel to come along or not. He might not like what he saw. Still, perhaps learning where their money came from would help to disconnect him from normal humanity and drag him deeper into Sebastian’s orbit. He wanted to crush the boy’s lingering regard for his fellow humans and bring him around to his own way of thinking.

“Very well, you may come along this time. But you must do as I say at all times, do you understand?”

Ciel nodded.

“Then get dressed. Wear dark colors,” said Sebastian, and Ciel did so, letting Sebastian do the buttons for him.

They left on foot, and Ciel was picked up by Sebastian so they could move quickly. They went to an unfamiliar part of the city and Sebastian stopped in an alleyway, setting Ciel down behind a large dumpster and crouching down near him.

“Do you see that ATM over there, across the street? Don’t answer out loud,” said Sebastian telepathically.

“Yeah, I see it,” replied Ciel mentally.

“I am going to convince a human to withdraw the maximum amount the ATM allows and give it to me without killing them or using any physical force.”

Ciel didn’t know what to say. He had no idea how Sebastian was going to pull it off. He had seen him kill people, and he could easily imagine him physically robbing someone by overpowering them, but this was different.

Sebastian waited until a likely target came past. He always tried to pick people who looked like they actually had money in their bank accounts. It was exasperating to put in the work only to find out that the person had hardly anything to withdraw.

Then he saw one, a man walking alone. He was wearing a suit and appeared to be on his way home from work, likely after a long day. All Sebastian had to do was get close enough to him to touch him without alarming him or causing any kind of disturbing-looking scene on the ATM security camera.

He would likely be suspicious of Sebastian as he appeared now, and it would look odd on the security camera if the man was seen handing money over to Sebastian’s current form. However, there was another form that would make perfect sense to any onlooker…

“Stay here,” he told Ciel mentally. He shifted his form before standing up and walking out into the alley. He became a tall, beautiful woman with long black hair. He wore a red dress and high heeled shoes.

He walked towards the man, who stopped to look at Sebastian when he noticed him.

“Excuse me, could I use your phone?” said Sebastian. He spoke in modern English and his voice was high pitched and feminine, suiting his current form. “My purse was stolen.”

The man saw what Sebastian wanted him to see, a harmless woman, alone, posing no threat to anyone.

“Of course, miss. Hang on,” said the man, and he started trying to find it in his pockets.

Sebastian got close enough and reached out, grabbing his wrist. Now he had him. He concentrated on his hypnotic powers, lacing his words with irresistible commanding strength.

“You will go to the ATM there and withdraw the maximum amount of money it will allow you to take out. Then you will give it to me and you will forget that this ever happened. Do you understand?” His tone of voice was completely different than before, still feminine, but with absolute authority.

The man nodded and seemed to be in a daze. They walked across the street together and the man did as he was commanded. On the security camera, it would appear that he was merely paying a woman a large sum of money for some illegal purpose such as prostitution, a minor crime. No one would guess he was being coerced, even though the man would later swear he didn’t remember anything about the incident.

“Good,” said Sebastian as he took the money. “Now forget everything about this and go home.”

The man left, continuing in the direction he had been walking before, and Sebastian walked back to the alley. He looked around carefully to see if anyone was watching, but he didn’t see anyone other than Ciel. He crouched down next to the boy where he was still waiting and shifted back to his usual form.

“Well, what do you think? It’s as easy as that,” he said, and he held up the stack of cash for Ciel to see. Then he reached down and slid it into the front waistband of Ciel’s pants.

“You can hold onto it for a while,” said Sebastian with a self-satisfied smile.

Ciel grabbed the money out of his pants and scowled.

“That’s not my pocket.”

“Oh, my mistake.”

Ciel shoved the money back into Sebastian’s hand.

“What did you do to him? He couldn’t have given you this much just because you...looked pretty to him or something.”

“I hypnotized him. He had no choice but to follow my commands. He won’t remember a thing about it, either, because I told him not to.”

Ciel was astonished by this. He had no idea that vampires had this ability.

“Is this where _all_ our money comes from?”

“Most of it. There was a time when I would just rob people and then hypnotize them to make them forget about it, but now no one carries cash and there’s security cameras everywhere, so a ruse works better and attracts less attention.”

Ciel knew he shouldn’t have been surprised. Sebastian was a parasite that fed off of his blood, so why wouldn’t he feed off of society as well? He found that the stealing didn’t even bother him that much, not like it should have.

Instead, it was finding out that Sebastian had the ability to hypnotize him this entire time that bothered him.

“Can you just...take me back? Unless there’s something else you do at night that I should know about.”

Sebastian picked Ciel up in his arms. He could tell something was bothering him, but he wasn’t sure specifically what, and he wasn’t sure if it would ultimately work out in his favor or not. He found it thrilling to commit crimes with Ciel, but the boy clearly did not feel the same way.

He took Ciel back to their motel room, brought him inside, and closed the door behind him. Ciel immediately began squirming to be let down, so he set him down.

Ciel stared up at Sebastian for a moment, clearly debating something with himself in his head. Then he seemed to come to a decision.

“Sebastian, I demand that you tell me the truth. The _entire_ truth, not just a part of it. Have you ever hypnotized me?”

That was not at all the question Sebastian had been expecting. He had expected Ciel to complain about the fact that Sebastian stole from innocent humans or to be worried about the police again.

“No, I have never hypnotized you,” he responded after a moment, caught off guard.

Ciel clearly didn’t believe him.

“Do you have any way to prove that?”

“It’s impossible to prove that someone hasn’t been hypnotized. Look, the best I can do is to explain to you what it would seem like if you had been. If you were given an order to forget a certain period of time, you would forget it, but the missing time would still stand out. Do you feel like you have any missing time?”

Ciel thought about it carefully, going over each day all the way back to when he first arrived in the past.

“No, I don’t think so…”

“Then you haven’t been hypnotized and ordered to forget something.” Sebastian was beginning to find this conversation tiresome, and he put his keys down on the table and made to walk away.

Suddenly, Ciel grabbed his arm.

“Wait, I…” he began. “Fine, I believe you. But I have one more question. Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why haven’t you hypnotized me? You said it was easy. I’m _not_ saying I want you to, I just don’t understand why you wouldn’t. You could have gotten me to do anything you wanted without having to promise me anything in return, and you clearly don’t care about respecting human autonomy.”

Sebastian stopped and looked at him, unsure of how to respond. The question delved to the depths of his feelings for Ciel, and he briefly considered not answering at all, but then decided he would have to. It was important for Ciel to understand, after all.

“Ciel,” he began, “How many other humans do you think are out there with this mark?” He gestured to Ciel’s right eye.

“I…don’t know.”

“None. You are the only one with my mark. I have never bothered to place one on any human before, because I have never wanted to have one as my own in the same manner as with you.”

Ciel felt his face beginning to turn red.

“I...don’t understand.” He felt like Sebastian wasn’t talking about wanting his blood, and even that...other thing...didn’t make sense. Both could be easily attained with hypnosis.

“When I first met you, I was looking for a human companion, someone who I found interesting enough to keep around for a significant length of time. This person needed to fill many roles, and it was not easy to find someone who seemed suitable. You are the first and only person I have found who does.”

He grabbed one of Ciel’s hands in his. He bent down and lightly kissed it.

“Now, can you imagine that after such a long search for a person who fulfills all of my criteria, I would proceed to turn him into a mindless doll? It is unthinkable.”

Ciel could still feel the warmth of Sebastian’s lips on his hand. He didn’t understand why he was so special to the vampire, but he did believe that he was.

“Sebastian,” he said softly. He stepped closer to him and placed his hands on his shoulders. “Do you want to…?” He tilted his head to the side, exposing the skin of his neck, which already had a partially healed bite mark from a previous time. He felt so wanted, and it made him desire closeness.

Sebastian immediately understood his meaning and picked him up, holding him against his chest and burying his face in the side of Ciel’s neck. He pressed a fervent kiss to it and brought Ciel back to one of the beds. He sat down on it and shifted to sit back against the headboard, with Ciel positioned in his lap.

Ciel kept his hands on Sebastian’s shoulders as he felt him undoing the buttons of his shirt, then briefly moved them so Sebastian could remove his shirt entirely.

“Can you...take yours off too?” he asked quietly.

Sebastian was pleasantly surprised by this request and soon had his own shirt unbuttoned. He slid it off and tossed it to the side along with Ciel’s.

Ciel placed a hand on Sebastian’s chest as he felt him lean back in towards his neck. But where he had expected to feel the sharpness of his bite, he instead felt another kiss, warm and insistent. He felt Sebastian grip his waist, and he knew the vampire was reveling in his scent. He didn’t fully understand that part either, but he knew Sebastian was obsessed with it. He shifted a bit on his lap and he felt Sebastian suddenly breathe out against his neck.

“Do that again,” said Sebastian, and Ciel heard it directly in his head.

Ciel shifted again, pressing himself more tightly against Sebastian’s lap. He could feel the hardness of Sebastian’s cock against his ass and he felt heat pool in his stomach.

It was all Sebastian could do not to shove Ciel down onto the bed and take him, roughly, right there. The warm weight of his ass pressed against him was nearly irresistible. Instead, he bit down on Ciel’s neck, and as the blood rushed into his mouth, he slid one hand between them and felt the outside of Ciel’s pants. He found that the boy was mostly hard, and he began caressing him.

“Mmh…” Ciel moaned softly. Even the initial sharpness of Sebastian’s fangs was beginning to become pleasurable by now, because his body knew what to expect afterwards. He became fully hard as Sebastian caressed him and he abandoned all plans of trying to put a stop to this. He desperately wanted it to continue, and to progress.

Sebastian continued to drink the blood flowing into his mouth, at one point becoming so distracted by the taste and Ciel’s scent that he forgot what else he was doing. But he soon remembered, and he reached both hands to the front of Ciel’s pants to unbutton them. He pulled Ciel’s small dick out of his pants and began stroking it with one hand, using the other to grip Ciel’s side.

Ciel did his best to remain quiet as he felt Sebastian’s hand stroke him. It felt so much better than when he did it himself. Sebastian clearly knew what he was doing, and the warmth and tightness of his large hand made Ciel want to press up into it.

Sebastian slid his fangs out from Ciel’s neck and watched as blood flowed out of the wounds, bright red against his pale skin. _He_ _looks_ _so_ _good_ _like_ _this_ , thought Sebastian. He slightly sped up his strokes of Ciel’s dick as he leaned back in to lick the flowing blood. With his free hand, he pulled Ciel more tightly against his lap.

Ciel could feel the pleasure building inside of him. The feeling of Sebastian’s hand on his cock, his mouth on his neck, the hardness in his pants pressing up against his ass…it was quickly becoming too much.

“S-Sebastian…” he said, “I…”

“Hold on,” replied Sebastian telepathically, and he slowed the movement of his hand on Ciel’s dick. He used his other hand to undo the button on his own pants and pulled his cock out. “Will you…?” he continued, and he grabbed one of Ciel’s hands and guided it to his cock.

Ciel looked down at Sebastian’s dick and was surprised by the size of it. It was significantly bigger than his own, and it was a little intimidating. But he did not want to appear childish in front of Sebastian, especially now.

“Yes, I’ll try…” he said, and he wrapped his hand around Sebastian’s dick. He began stroking it, uncertainly at first, and tried to copy the movements Sebastian was making with him.

Sebastian made a low noise of approval and increased the speed of his strokes of Ciel’s cock, tightening his grip a little. He felt Ciel copy this and the feeling of pleasure began rising.

“Good...you’re doing well,” he told Ciel, and he brought one hand to Ciel’s face, taking a moment to look at him. Ciel’s expression was so cute, his eyes partially closed, mouth slightly open, cheeks red.

On impulse, Sebastian leaned in and kissed him, gently at first. He noticed Ciel’s eyes opening wider, and he felt Ciel grow distracted and momentarily slow his hand on Sebastian’s cock. He tilted his head a little and deepened the kiss, sliding his tongue into Ciel’s mouth, pressing his lips to his more insistently.

Ciel felt Sebastian’s tongue in his mouth and he could taste his own blood on it. He had never kissed anyone before, not like this, and he was not sure what he was supposed to do, but he opened his lips more and allowed Sebastian to do as he pleased. He resumed his stroking of Sebastian’s cock at a quicker pace.

Sebastian had to hold back a moan as Ciel stroked him faster. Even though Ciel was inexperienced, it felt so good to have his small hand on his dick, his soft skin against Sebastian’s. And Ciel’s mouth was every bit as warm as he had imagined, his lips opening so willingly for Sebastian…

Ciel couldn’t hold back any longer, with Sebastian’s hand so skillfully stroking him and his mouth against his. He came, shuddering a little, thighs trembling. He accidentally moved his tongue the wrong way in Sebastian’s mouth and gave himself a tiny cut as it ran against one of Sebastian’s fangs. Startled, he pulled his mouth back, breathing heavily.

The sight of Ciel having an orgasm right in his lap was almost enough for Sebastian to finish as well. He caught the sudden taste of fresh blood as Ciel cut his tongue, and when Ciel pulled back, Sebastian followed, kissing him again, wanting to taste him. When he slid his tongue back into Ciel’s mouth and tasted his delectable blood, he came, the feeling of Ciel’s little hand on him and the taste of his blood too much for him.

After a moment, he pulled back and looked down. They had made quite a mess together, with come on both of their pairs of pants as well as both of their hands and stomachs.

Ciel shifted a bit and pulled his hand back from Sebastian’s cock. It was dirty, and he wasn’t sure what to do about it. He felt a little lightheaded.

Sebastian kissed Ciel again, softly.

“I’ll get everything cleaned up,” he said, and he picked up Ciel and shifted him off of his lap and onto the bed next to him. He got up and took off his shoes and socks, then removed his pants and underwear, since he would need to wash them.

He turned back to Ciel and began pulling the boy’s pants and underwear down his legs as well.

“W-Wait, what are you doing?” said Ciel. He couldn’t stop staring at Sebastian, as he had never seen him completely naked before.

“These are dirty, they need to be washed. There is nothing to be embarrassed about,” replied Sebastian.

In Ciel’s mind there was quite a lot to be embarrassed about, but in his current state he couldn’t think of a good argument, so he allowed Sebastian to undress him. Sebastian had to take Ciel’s shoes and socks off too to get his pants and underwear off, leaving him fully exposed on the bed.

Ciel pulled the blanket around himself as he watched Sebastian take their clothes to the bathroom. He heard the water turn on, and then Sebastian came back with a wet washcloth and a towel.

Sebastian crawled back onto the bed next to Ciel and moved the blanket aside. He grabbed Ciel’s hand first, the one he had used to stroke his cock, and began cleaning it with the washcloth. Then he moved lower and wiped Ciel’s stomach and groin clean.

Ciel squirmed a little as Sebastian cleaned him off, especially on the lower parts of his body. He was still very sensitive there, and it sent small aftershocks of pleasure through him when Sebastian touched his dick.

Soon enough, it was done, and Sebastian handed Ciel the towel to dry off with. He cleaned himself off with the washcloth as well, and dried off with the towel when Ciel was finished. Ciel covered himself with the blanket again.

“Can you bring me something to wear?” asked Ciel.

Sebastian nodded and brought him a clean pair of pajamas. He watched as Ciel pulled them on, sliding his little legs into the pants. He was so cute.

“You should get dressed too,” said Ciel, looking away. Even after what they had just done, he wasn’t quite ready for them to be completely nude around each other. It just felt like too much.

“If you insist,” replied Sebastian, and he went to get something to wear for himself. He didn’t really understand Ciel’s shyness, but he supposed it made sense given his youth and inexperience.

Once he was dressed, Sebastian turned out the lights and they went to bed in separate beds.


	7. Chapter 7

_-A_ _couple_ _of_ _weeks_ _later-_

“Ciel, can you stand against the wall there for a moment? I need to take your picture.”

Ciel’s eyes narrowed with suspicion.

“Why do you need to take my picture?” he asked. He could not think of any legitimate reason for this and was concerned that it was for some kind of inappropriate purpose.

“Do you trust me so little? It’s for your ID. That’s why I didn’t ask you to take off any of your clothes.”

“Ugh, shut up Sebastian,” replied Ciel. “I wouldn’t do it even if you did ask.”

He got up and stood against the wall as Sebastian had requested, unsure how he should try to look. In his time, identification was mostly done through biometric means such as genetic analysis, fingerprinting, or retinal scans rather than by photography.

“Am I supposed to smile?”

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to. Actually, wait, hold on,” replied Sebastian, and he went and grabbed a container of concealer from the bathroom. He opened it and carefully applied some to the side of Ciel’s neck where bite marks were showing.

“Hmm...yeah, that’s better,” he said when he had finished, and he crouched down with his phone to try to get a picture at an angle that was not tilted. Ciel maintained a neutral expression.

“Okay, three, two, one...done. That looks good, I think,” said Sebastian.

“Let me see,” replied Ciel, and he went to Sebastian’s side to look at the picture. The purple mark on his eye was not visible, and the bite marks on his neck did seem to be adequately covered.

“Okay, I guess you can use that. But why do I need an ID?”

“Because we need to get our cover story straight, and when we do we will need official documentation of it. We look suspicious as we are now. I can get us ‘fake’ IDs that are genuine in the sense of being government-issued, and I will have to include your picture on yours.”

“All right,” replied Ciel, and he sat back down where he had previously been. “Can we just pretend to be business associates?”

Sebastian had to struggle not to laugh.

“No, that absolutely won’t work. No one will believe that a thirteen-year-old has an adult ‘business associate’. They’ll also wonder where your parents are.” 

That was something Sebastian was wondering as well. He still was not entirely convinced that Ciel’s ‘I’m from the future’ story was legitimate, though he did not completely disbelieve it either. He knew strange things were possible, and he had no better explanation for how the boy had seemed to appear out of nowhere on the day he first saw him. Sebastian did not really care where Ciel was from so long as no one showed up looking for him, but it was a curious situation.

“But we really are business associates, just not of the...usual sort. I hired you to protect me, and that makes you my employee.”

“I don’t think that’s a fully accurate characterization of our relationship. But nonetheless, it won’t convince an outside observer. If I don’t pose as your relative, preferably your father, they’ll believe you’ve been kidnapped. It happens with some frequency, as you might recall.”

“No way!” protested Ciel. “That’s disgusting. I already have a father and I do _not_ need you pretending to be him.” Now that their relationship had become intimate to the degree that it had, the idea was just too much for him.

“It would only be for the ears of ignorant human officials, nothing more. I don’t even need to use his name, we can use made-up ones.”

“There has to be something else that would work. Find a different story to use.”

Sebastian sighed. He really didn’t understand what the big deal was.

“Fine, if it bothers you so much,” he said, and gave it some consideration. “Do you have any uncles?”

“...I have one by marriage. None by blood.”

“Then I will pose as your uncle. Your father’s brother, perhaps. We can say your parents died in...a car accident. And I and my late wife, who tragically passed recently from...cancer, took you in. We were planning to adopt you, but my wife was handling that, and now that I’m left alone to raise you by myself, I have only managed to get through the paperwork to secure a legal guardianship over you and not a full adoption, meaning you are not even my adoptive son. Does that seem less ‘disgusting’ to you?”

“Slightly,” replied Ciel. He would much rather have posed as unrelated individuals, but he had to admit that it did seem unlikely for a thirteen-year-old to be traveling with a man completely unrelated to him and without either of his parents present. “If that’s the best you can come up with then I guess it’s okay. How are we going to explain why I can’t speak modern English?”

“Hmm...how about we say your parents raised you on an obscure tiny island and you learned the language of the locals there as your native language? And I, your loving uncle who visited you and your family often when you were a child, learned enough of it as well to be able to translate for you.”

Ciel scoffed. It sounded ridiculous, but he couldn’t come up with anything more plausible. If they picked a larger and more well-known country as the place he was supposedly raised, people would expect him to be able to speak that language.

“Fine.”

“Then it’s settled.”

It was going to be complicated, though. Sebastian would have to hypnotize numerous government employees to get everything made. He needed IDs for both of them, guardianship paperwork, fake computer entries for Ciel’s parents and his ‘wife’... And since government offices were not open at night, he would likely have to do some digging to find out who worked where so he could go to their houses to hypnotize them into doing what he wanted the next day. It was almost enough to make him consider getting actual fakes. But there was value to doing a job properly, and genuine documents would be useful, particularly when they wanted to leave the country.

“Sebastian?” asked Ciel.

“Yes?”

“I’m hungry. Can you take me out to eat?” He was tired of being in the hotel room, and it was nice and dark out. He also found he was very hungry quite often lately, possibly because he was growing and possibly because of Sebastian leeching energy from him every day.

“We have food here.”

“I know, but I want to go out anyway.”

“...all right, but this is the only time I can take you for a while. I’ll be busy the next few nights arranging our documentation.”

They left on foot, as one of Ciel’s favorite restaurants happened to be only six or seven blocks from the hotel they were currently staying at, and since it was a bit cold Ciel wore a light jacket over his shirt. He also wore his high-heeled shoes, as he tended to feel a little insecure about his height when he was walking next to Sebastian. He was aware, painfully so, that Sebastian had not been lying when he said Ciel was small for his age.

When they passed by an alleyway, Ciel heard Sebastian gasp.

“Hold on, I have to stop and see a beautiful woman.”

Ciel was astonished. He watched as Sebastian walked into the alley and crouched down. He followed him, baffled by his behavior, and saw that he was letting a little calico cat sniff his hand.

_Is_ _that_... _a_ _vampire_? thought Ciel. Sebastian had first appeared to him in cat form, after all. Perhaps it was some sort of cultural preference among their kind. Sebastian also liked to smell him, so maybe they did so to each other as well?

He watched for a moment, unsure if he should introduce himself or not. Sebastian had never brought him around any other vampires, and he had always gotten the vague impression that he did not like them, but Sebastian clearly liked this one. He seemed so excited to see her.

_Does_ _he_ _know_ _her_ _personally_? he thought. The idea made him upset. He put one hand on Sebastian’s shoulder.

“Who is this?” asked Ciel, sending the message telepathically.

“I don’t know what her name is. Isn’t she stunning, though?” replied Sebastian, and he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small packet of cat treats. He poured a couple into his hand and held it out for the cat to eat. She immediately ate them, and something began to dawn on Ciel.

“Sebastian, is that just a normal cat?” he asked in a frustrated tone.

“Of course. There’s no such thing as a ‘normal’ cat, though. They’re all unique and special in their own way. Would you like to give her a treat?” He held out the packet of treats to Ciel.

“No,” he said, pushing them away. “I can’t believe you carry those with you.”

Sebastian put the treats back into his pocket and began petting the cat.

“I can’t have a cat of my own since I move around so much, so I treat all of the cats I come across as my own pets. They’re such magnificent, sublime beings.” He sounded enraptured.

Ciel was growing more and more annoyed.

“I used to be allergic to cats, you know. My parents paid to have it fixed so I wouldn’t have trouble going to people’s houses who had cats, but we’ve never had one. Instead we have a dog. His name is Sebastian.”

Sebastian stopped petting the cat and looked at Ciel.

“...is this a joke?”

“No, I really do have a dog named Sebastian. He’s a borzoi.” He chose for the moment to leave out the fact that he hated the dog. He thought it would be nice if Sebastian thought he liked the dog better than him. “Here, I’ll show you.”

He formed a mental image of his dog and sent it to Sebastian telepathically.

Sebastian couldn’t help but look disgusted for a moment.

“Sebastian is a terrible name for a dog,” he said, frowning. “They are dull creatures, so a shorter and easier-to-understand name suits them better.”

“I think it’s a perfect name. Are you done petting your...beautiful woman, now? I’m still hungry.”

Sebastian thought he understood what was going on here. He stood up.

“Did you think that she was one of my kind? Is that why you’re upset with me?”

“No,” said Ciel, frowning. “I’m just unhappy that you’re making me wait to eat. I never make you wait.”

Sebastian looked around and he did not see anyone besides them in the alley or on the street near it, nor did he sense any human presences particularly near them. He leaned in and pressed a kiss to Ciel’s lips, just for a moment, before pulling back.

“I’m sorry for making you wait. We can go now,” he said. “Although I do remember you making me wait a few days ago because you wanted to take a bath first. Which you then needed me to help with.”

Ciel stepped back, looking around.

“Aren’t we supposed to be trying _not_ to be suspicious?” he said, anxious about the possibility of being seen.

“Yes, but if we can’t ever do anything interesting under the cover of the night, what’s the point in being alive?” replied Sebastian. “I checked for onlookers first. And you know…if she had been a vampire, I would never have brought you anywhere near her.”

Sebastian never interacted with other vampires any more than he absolutely had to, and he had no intention of ever voluntarily exposing Ciel to the presence of one. He did not trust that they would respect and abide by his mark on the boy once they had the opportunity to smell him for themselves.

“...fine, let’s just go,” said Ciel, and they continued on their way.

As they walked, Sebastian became preoccupied with his own thoughts. He found it cute that Ciel had mistaken the little cat for a vampire and had seemingly gotten jealous. It made him feel like everything was right in the world and put him in a pleasant mood.

Ciel gradually fell slightly behind, his shorter legs having difficulty keeping up even with his high-heeled shoes. He too was preoccupied, thinking about the fact that Sebastian didn’t want to bring him around other vampires. He had already guessed that was the case, since Sebastian had bothered to put a warning sign on him specifically to ward off other vampires, but he had always assumed there might be exceptions, that Sebastian might have friends or allies that he trusted. But clearly he did not. Ciel was glad he didn’t have to worry about other vampires distracting Sebastian from his job of protecting him and caring for him.

Suddenly, Ciel’s foot caught on an uneven patch of sidewalk, and he fell forward, catching himself with his hands and scraping one of them against the sidewalk. Sebastian was at his side in an instant, helping him up.

_How_ _did_ _I miss_ _that?_ _I should_ _have_ _caught_ _him_ , thought Sebastian. His eyes narrowed in on Ciel’s scraped palm, and he grabbed Ciel’s hand in his to get a better look. Even in the dark, he could clearly see the blood welling up from the scrape. The scent of it wafted up towards him, enticing as a siren’s song. He must have stared at it a little too long, because Ciel pulled his hand back.

“No, you can’t have any. Not here. Look, there’s people around now.”

Sebastian reluctantly tore his gaze from Ciel’s palm and looked around. Unfortunately, Ciel was correct. This close to the restaurant there were other humans around, too many. He tried to think of a way he could somehow lick Ciel’s palm without anyone noticing, but before he could, Ciel began brushing it off with his other hand.

“Come on, I’ll just wash it in the bathroom when we get there,” he said, and he began walking towards the restaurant again, trusting that Sebastian would follow.

Sebastian caught up with him in a couple of steps.

“If you do that it will take longer to heal. If you let me come in the bathroom with you, I can—”

“No, this isn’t some kind of treat for you. I’m washing it off with soap and water and you’re _not_ coming in the bathroom with me,” replied Ciel. He found it kind of exciting how much power he suddenly had over Sebastian at the moment. It was worth falling over for.

Sebastian glared at him. It was frustrating, incredibly so, to have to smell Ciel’s blood _right_ _there_ , so close, and yet be unable to taste it.

They entered the restaurant and Ciel did as he had said and went into the bathroom to wash his hand off. Sebastian sat down at a table and tried to think about something else, anything else. Though it was the middle of the night, other humans were in the restaurant, both employees and other customers. He couldn’t cause a scene, it wouldn’t be worth it. 

He pulled out his phone and brought up one of his favorite websites with photos and videos of cats. Seeing their adorable paws and soft stomachs normally brought him peace, but it was not working as well as usual at the moment.

After a moment, Ciel was back, and the smell of blood coming from his hand was significantly reduced. Sebastian helped him order, as Ciel still had trouble with the language, and Ciel was shocked when the order Sebastian had placed contained something for himself as well: a single glass of water.

“Are you really going to drink that?” he asked. He had never seen Sebastian eat or drink anything besides his blood in the entire time he had known him.

“Water is one of the primary components of human blood,” said Sebastian. It was one of the few acceptable options he had ever found among human food and drink choices. He didn’t drink it often, as blood was strongly preferable and water had no nutritional value, but it wasn’t terrible. “Besides, if we’re going to eat inside, it will make me look more normal if I get something too.”

_This is really getting to him,_ thought Ciel. He began to wonder if he had made the best choice. Sebastian could be a little rough with him when he was really hungry. Maybe he should have let him come into the bathroom with him...but it was too late now. He sat down at a table and Sebastian sat down with him, taking a small sip of water. Ciel watched him carefully, but Sebastian maintained a neutral expression.

After a while of eating in silence, Ciel pressed one of his legs up against Sebastian’s under the table.

“Are you angry with me?” he asked telepathically.

“Not as much anymore,” replied Sebastian in the same manner. His mind was calmer now, with the scent of Ciel’s blood vastly reduced from before and the taste of cool water distracting him from thoughts of it. He knew, logically, that Ciel had been correct not to let him act outside the bounds of his human disguise in public. _It was my own fault for not catching him before he could scrape himself,_ he thought. _I must be more vigilant in the future._

Ciel grabbed Sebastian’s water and took a drink from it curiously. Some part of his mind insisted it must be different from typical water in some way, but it tasted perfectly normal to him.

“Good,” he said, setting the drink back down. “Does that mean you’ll get me an ice cream cone when I’m done eating?”

Sebastian couldn’t help but smile at that.

“No way. If you weren’t willing to give me a ‘treat,’ then why should I give you one?”

“Because I want one. There doesn’t need to be any other reason.”

“Nope. You’re lucky I even let you eat that kind of unhealthy meal. You’ll get high blood sugar if you eat that way too much.”

Ciel frowned and pretended to be upset, but he had not really expected Sebastian to give in this time. He finished his meal and stood up and threw away the trash.

They left and began walking back to the hotel, with Sebastian paying more attention to Ciel and ensuring he didn’t fall behind him again. The further they got from the restaurant, the fewer people they saw, and Sebastian found that the urge to do something, anything, to Ciel grew stronger. Many images filled his mind, some quite explicit, but others less so. He wanted to pick him up and hold him against his chest, feel the warmth of his small body against his. He wanted to kiss him on his hand, his lips, his cheeks, everywhere. He could not recall ever having been so captivated by anyone before. Being around Ciel made him feel alive.

When they got back to their room, Sebastian closed the door behind them and picked Ciel up. Ciel had been expecting this, as he was becoming accustomed to Sebastian’s preferences and tendencies and knew he would want him right away after not having been allowed to lick his blood off his hand earlier. He wrapped his arms around Sebastian’s neck.

“I think I want to take a bath first again,” he said teasingly. He was not serious, but he thought it might be fun to frustrate Sebastian just a little more.

Sebastian pressed his lips against Ciel’s and kissed him, and when he felt the boy’s lips open a little, he slid his tongue into his mouth and deepened the kiss. He used one hand to grab Ciel’s ass, and the feeling of it began to get him hard.

He walked to the nearer of the two beds and tossed Ciel onto it, then crawled over him and kissed him again, using his hands to begin unbuttoning Ciel’s shirt.

“You should wait until afterwards this time,” said Sebastian after a moment. “I think you’ll prefer to have one then.”

He brought his mouth to the side of Ciel’s neck that didn’t have any concealer on it and bit down, not fully with his fangs, just a lighter nip that only drew a small amount of blood. He pulled Ciel’s shirt and jacket off and began trailing kisses intermixed with occasional small bites down Ciel’s chest, carefully licking each little wound and closing his eyes as the taste of Ciel’s blood in his mouth and the scent of it pervaded his senses, almost overwhelming after having been denied it earlier.

Ciel squirmed a little as he felt Sebastian’s intermittent bites, the sharpness of his teeth followed by the pleasurable tingling sensation when he licked the wounds causing heat to pool in his stomach. He felt Sebastian unbutton his pants and pull them down his legs, along with his underwear and shoes. Ciel had become less uncomfortable with Sebastian seeing him nude than he was before. He was beginning to grow accustomed to it, as it was often necessary for Sebastian to help him bathe, and things he enjoyed tended to happen when Sebastian undressed him on the bed like this.

Sebastian set aside Ciel’s clothes and took a moment to look at him. His little dick, already partially hard from the attention Sebastian had given him, his ass, his soft and impeccably untouched thighs…Sebastian wanted to mark and claim all of them for himself. Ciel’s scent was stronger with his clothes off, more difficult to resist, but he first wanted to try something new with Ciel. He shifted down on the boy’s body, bringing his face near Ciel’s dick.

_Is he going to use his mouth again…?_ thought Ciel. Sebastian had done that once before and it had been quite embarrassing for Ciel. At first, he had been nervous to even allow it, as he was concerned about Sebastian’s fangs being so close to such a sensitive area, but once Sebastian had convinced him that it was safe, he had come far too quickly, overwhelmed by the warmth and wetness of his mouth. It had been one of the most pleasurable things he had ever felt in his life and he desperately wanted to feel it again, but he couldn’t bring himself to specifically ask for it.

Sebastian brought two of his fingers to his own mouth and carefully covered them in saliva, then shifted Ciel’s legs up and further apart so he could easily access his ass. He was growing tired of waiting, and though he knew Ciel wouldn’t be fully ready today, he wanted to at least begin getting him used to the feeling of something inside of him.

He began rubbing his saliva-covered fingertips against Ciel’s entrance and simultaneously took Ciel’s little cock into his mouth, sliding his lips down it and back up slowly and using his tongue to slide alongside it and across the tip when he reached the top again. When he felt the outside of Ciel’s entrance had been lubricated enough, he added more saliva to his fingers and gradually began sliding one of them inside, feeling the incredible heat and tightness instinctively clamping down on him as he did. He imagined what it would feel like to have his cock in there and he had to use his free hand to reach down and undo his pants, which were getting too tight.

Ciel gripped the sheets underneath him and struggled to stay quiet as he felt Sebastian’s mouth on his dick, sucking and licking him with clear expertise. He barely noticed Sebastian’s fingers touching his ass until he felt one of them slide inside.

“Ah!” he said, arching up a little off the bed and clenching down. “W-what are you—”

"Ssh, try to relax…,” replied Sebastian, speaking telepathically and not removing his mouth from Ciel’s dick. “You’ll like this, I promise.”

He slid his finger a little deeper into Ciel and used his other hand to spread the boy’s ass cheeks a bit further apart. He continued using his mouth on Ciel’s cock, doing his best to distract him from any pain he might feel from being entered like this for the first time. He began slowly moving his finger in and out, and each time he pressed it back in, he searched for the spot that he knew would prove to Ciel that this was worth doing.

Ciel brought one hand to Sebastian’s head and tangled his fingers in his hair, gripping it rather roughly, though Sebastian voiced no complaint. He could feel the pleasure building rapidly, and even the finger in his ass didn’t hurt as much anymore. He could feel some of the same tingling sensation he usually got from Sebastian’s saliva in his ass. He pressed his hand down on Sebastian’s head, encouraging him.

_He must be getting close,_ thought Sebastian. He carefully slid a second finger into Ciel’s ass alongside the first one, pressing them both in more deeply. He wanted Ciel to start mentally associating having something in his ass with the pleasure of an orgasm. He began to speed up the rate at which he moved his mouth on Ciel’s dick.

Ciel moaned softly, then used the hand that wasn’t on Sebastian’s head to cover his own mouth. Sebastian was always reminding him that they needed to be careful about noise, as there were likely other occupied rooms near theirs. He tried to resist clenching down as he felt a second finger enter him, and when he felt them slide deeper inside of him, they brushed against a spot that made him see stars.

He came suddenly into Sebastian’s mouth, moaning against his own hand, unable to stop himself from tightening around Sebastian’s fingers, which was both a little painful and pleasurable. Sebastian kept his mouth around Ciel, swallowing his come easily, as the taste did not bother him at all. He felt Ciel tighten impossibly around his fingers as he came and had to resist an extremely strong urge to throw all caution to the wind and try to enter him right then and there.

_He’s not ready yet, he’s still way too tight,_ Sebastian reminded himself. _But soon, after I have worked with him a little more…_

Ciel relaxed back against the bed after a moment, staring at the ceiling, exhausted. As Sebastian removed his mouth from his dick and his fingers from his ass, he felt vaguely empty. He watched as Sebastian climbed back over him and stared down at him, a red glint to his usually brown eyes. When Sebastian kissed him, he could taste himself in his mouth, and it made him blush.

Sebastian found Ciel’s post-orgasm look exceptional, and it made him ravenous for him. After he kissed him for a moment, he went back to the boy’s neck and bit into it again, harder this time, sliding his fangs in deeply. As the blood flowed into his mouth, he pressed his still-clothed dick up against Ciel’s ass, craving the contact even though he knew he couldn’t go too far with him. He gripped Ciel’s side with one of his hands, a bit more tightly than usual, nails digging into the boy’s skin.

Ciel tilted his head to the side a little to give Sebastian better access to his neck, and when he felt Sebastian’s dick against his ass, he reached down and felt it curiously with his hand. Since Sebastian’s pants were already undone, he was able to pull it out of his underwear without a problem, and he began stroking it. He felt Sebastian’s nails in his skin and he shifted a little, which allowed Sebastian’s dick to rub up against his smaller one, and he heard Sebastian make a quiet noise against his neck as he drank from him.

Ciel used his free hand, which was the one nearest Sebastian’s head, to gently run his fingers through his hair as his other hand continued to stroke his cock. He found it very satisfying to have Sebastian so obviously hungering for both his blood and his body like this. He felt so wanted and safe when Sebastian covered his body with his own and drank from him. _That’s strange, I suppose,_ he thought, _to feel safe when a vampire drinks from you._

Sebastian felt the pleasure rising within him as Ciel stroked his cock with his little hand. The boy was getting better at it now, more confident, and he pressed against his hand as he continued to drink from his neck, swallowing his warm and lucious blood fervently. He felt Ciel tighten his grip on him and speed up his strokes, and after a moment more he slid his fangs from Ciel’s neck. He began licking the bleeding wounds, and he used the hand that wasn’t gripping Ciel’s side to grip his ass, enjoying the feeling of it in his hand.

Soon, Sebastian came on Ciel, getting it all over the boy’s stomach and hand. He managed to keep silent as he did, burying his face in Ciel’s neck and letting his scent enhance the experience.

Ciel waited a moment, continuing to run his fingers through Sebastian’s silky hair. He gave Sebastian’s dick a few slow, final strokes, then removed his hand from it. He could feel the warmth of Sebastian’s come on his hand and stomach.

Sebastian licked Ciel’s neck again, then shifted and kissed him, slowly and deeply. He brought one hand to Ciel’s face to hold it in place as he slid his tongue in and ran it along Ciel’s. He kissed him for a long moment, then pulled back.

“...well?” he asked. He knew Ciel had enjoyed it, but he wanted to hear him say it.

Ciel looked away.

“...you were right,” he replied. “I do want to take a bath afterwards.”

Sebastian leaned in and kissed him once more, very gently nipping his lip.

“All right, I will help you take a bath.”

Sebastian made sure to carefully lick the scratches he had left on Ciel’s sides first, as well as the scrape on his hand so that they would heal properly and would not become infected. Then he got himself properly dressed again and ran a warm bath for Ciel.


	8. Chapter 8

Ciel soon found he had reached the limits of what research he could do on his own to progress his goal of trying to get home, and as he had no one else to assist him, he had to enlist Sebastian’s help with multiple tasks.

The first one was physics research. He thought he needed to know more about the portions of physics that related to time travel if he ever wanted to successfully get back home, but he couldn’t read in modern English, so he used one of Sebastian’s credit cards that he had ‘liberated’ and bought some books that appeared relevant from what little he could understand of their titles and covers.

Since they moved around a lot, he had to have them delivered to an Amazon drop box, which meant Sebastian had to go with him to pick them up. Sebastian was quite disappointed when he found out that Ciel’s mysterious Amazon purchases were nothing remotely interesting or exciting. He was even more disappointed when he found out that Ciel intended to have him read all of them and then translate the ‘important parts’ for him.

“Honestly, did you really have to buy so many? There’s not going to be anything relating to time travel in these. Modern people don’t believe in it. You couldn’t have picked out a nice outfit or something instead?” remarked Sebastian after they had opened all of the boxes.

“You already buy me enough outfits. I need information. Even if it’s not labeled as being about time travel, that doesn’t mean it can’t be related to it. I got here somehow, even if modern people don’t understand it. There might be something useful in their physics books that they don’t fully recognize the importance of yet.”

Sebastian found this assignment extremely dull and was inclined to refuse, but Ciel reminded him that he had agreed to help Ciel get home, and he made the argument that this would help. Sebastian was skeptical that it really would, but reluctantly accepted the task.

A few days later, Ciel had a realization that since he was able to come back with a time machine created by his father’s company, it was theoretically possible that someone else could too. He began to wonder if his father might deliberately send someone back to look for him. He became quite concerned about this. What if it had already happened? What if he had missed the person? And if someone did come back for him, what would he do…?

That was a difficult dilemma for him. He did not intend to renege on his agreement with Sebastian. He had sold the vampire five years of his life and blood, and he intended to give it to him. But that meant that if someone came back for him, he couldn’t go forward in time with them; he couldn’t go home, at least not yet.

But he could at least send a message home. He could let his family know he was alive and that he was okay. He could apologize for the huge mistake he had made in stealing the machine in the first place. He had no idea how to explain to them why he couldn’t come home right away, but he could assure them he would be back eventually.

He imagined that would not go down well and that his parents, if they were able to send a return message, would demand he come back immediately. But the last thing Ciel wanted was a direct conflict between Sebastian and his parents, and he knew that if he attempted to leave before their contract was complete, that was what he would be inviting.

Not to mention that he did not particularly _want_ to break the contract. Though he missed his parents and his brother dearly, and wished there was a way he could see them without leaving Sebastian, he was enjoying his strange life with his vampire protector. Sebastian could be aggravating, but Ciel found him compelling, and Sebastian sometimes made him feel like the most important person in the world.

He couldn’t think of any other way to deal with this issue but to have Sebastian help with it as well, so he brought it up when Sebastian was trudging through one of the books he had assigned him.

“Sebastian, can you help me with something else?”

Sebastian looked up and put a bookmark in the book.

“What do you need me to do?”

“I need you to start reading human news, more closely than you do now. I’m looking for incidents that might indicate that another time traveler has arrived or is here. I know they probably won’t specifically say the term ‘time traveler,’ but if you could look for anything strange…”

Sebastian’s eyes narrowed slightly as he considered this. He had wondered before where Ciel’s parents were, and the longer they spent together, the more credence he gave to Ciel’s story, bizarre though it was. Ciel did not strike him as being detached from reality in any way, and he had still not been able to identify any real world location in the present day where Ciel’s language was spoken, despite having searched online and having listened to samples of obscure tiny languages and dialects. He had also seen Ciel put on and take off his original outfit once, the one he’d been wearing the night they met, and Sebastian had never seen anything quite like the way the seams came apart and went together, which Ciel claimed was controlled by locally-stored information in his microchip.

“Do you think someone is coming to look for you?” he asked after a moment, sounding calmer than he felt. The idea of someone coming to get Ciel made Sebastian furious. He also was not sure what he would do if it happened, as his initial instinct would be to kill the person, but doing that would be forbidden under his agreement with Ciel, as he had promised to help Ciel get home and that would be the opposite of helping. He also couldn’t hypnotize the person into thinking Ciel was dead and sending them back to spread the news so no other searchers would be sent as that would violate their agreement as well.

But he had no intention of letting Ciel leave him, no matter who showed up looking for him.

“I don’t know for sure, but it’s possible. If I was able to come back, other people might be able to too. I know my parents would want to find me,” replied Ciel. “If someone does come back, I need to try not to miss them. It’s important.”

This was too much for Sebastian. He felt a strong sense of revulsion at the mere concept of some worthless nobody showing up and whisking _his_ Ciel away, made all the worse by the fact that Ciel seemed to welcome this idea. He had thought Ciel understood their arrangement and his situation...he had thought Ciel was happy with him. Or happy _enough_. But perhaps he had been wrong.

He set the book he had been reading aside and stood up and walked to where Ciel was standing. He grabbed his arm and pulled him close, using his other hand to tilt Ciel’s head up, staring down at him.

“You understand that I will never die from old age, right?” he asked quietly, though with a hint of deeply-concealed ire. “If you betray me and manage to flee into the future, you will not actually escape. The moment you reappear, I will know, and I _will_ find you, no matter how long it takes.”

Ciel looked up at him and felt his heart pounding in his chest. There was a slightly red gleam to Sebastian’s eyes, and he knew Sebastian only looked like that when he was worked up about something.

“Sebastian, let _go_ , you’re being ridiculous,” protested Ciel, and he pulled determinedly against Sebastian’s grasp, to no avail. “I’m not planning to betray you. I just want to send a message back home, that’s it. I wasn’t going to _leave_.”

Sebastian wanted to believe him, but he knew that Ciel had no obligation to tell him the truth about anything. And though Ciel had seemed happy, he knew it would be more logical for a person in the boy’s position to be looking for a way out. He had only agreed to their deal because he was in a situation of extreme peril, after all.

Still, it made him bitter to think of all he had done for Ciel, all of the time and effort he had spent on him, only to find out that Ciel might dislike being with him so much that he was already searching for someone to help him escape, and they were not even half a year into their contract.

_I could solve this right now,_ a traitorous part of him thought. _It would be the simplest thing to make him forget he ever had a family, that he ever had anyone but me._ He knew this would be no true solution to the issue, and he did not intend to do it, but he had never before been as tempted to as he was now.

“...I will look for strange incidents in the news,” he said after a moment’s thought. “But if I find one, and it turns out to have something to do with you, I will go to meet this person. I will pass along any message you might have, but I will not take you with me. I don’t care if they ask to see you or if you want to see them.”

He released Ciel and took a step back. Part of him wanted nothing to do with him at the moment, and another part wanted to be rough with him, far too rough for his little body to handle.

Ciel resisted the urge to touch the part of his arm Sebastian had grabbed. He didn’t want to let him know it still hurt. He could tell Sebastian had not believed him, and it made him angry. He didn’t know how much more clear he could be about it.

“You’re going to act as my fucking intermediary against my will with someone from _my_ time?” he asked.

“That’s right. Do you really think I would be foolish enough to let someone near you who could take you away from me for centuries? Just because I _can_ wait that long to find you again doesn’t mean I want to.”

Sebastian pulled out his phone to check the time. There was still enough night time left for him to go for a walk. He felt like he needed some air and a break from arguing with Ciel, both for his own peace of mind and Ciel’s safety.

“I’m going out,” he said, and he walked towards the door.

“I hope you stay out long enough to get sunburnt,” replied Ciel as he left. When Sebastian was gone, he rolled up the sleeve of his shirt and looked at the spot Sebastian had grabbed. It already had a visible bruise. _Why can’t he just listen?_ he thought. _He’s such an idiot, letting himself get angry over something I didn’t even say._

* * *

The next few days were rather awkward and uncomfortable for both of them. Neither Ciel nor Sebastian felt they were in the wrong, so neither was inclined to apologize. Sebastian continued to drink blood from Ciel as usual, but did little else, as he found he was too angry with him to risk it. Even drinking from him tested his self-control, and he could not so much as hold onto his side as he did so without feeling a strong impulse to tear into him.

Ciel found their new situation frustrating, but he did not know how to fix it. He hated that Sebastian was angry with him, but he didn’t know how to prove to him that he was being stupid. He noticed that Sebastian was spending most of the night each night outside by himself now, and he didn’t know what exactly he was doing, only that he wasn’t inviting him along. He told himself he didn’t care, that he didn’t want to be around him anyway, but it did irritate him.

Since there was nothing he could do about Sebastian, he decided to work on what he could, and he began to think harder about an issue that had been sitting at the back of his mind almost since he first arrived in the past. It was something that concerned him more and more with each passing day, as he potentially caused greater and greater disruptions to the timeline, and it was something that he couldn't solve by himself.

“Sebastian,” he began, and he wished he did not have to call on the vampire once more for assistance, but he had no other options and he needed to ask him while he was around. “I need to figure out what kind of universe we live in.”

Sebastian was laying on his back in bed, reading on his phone. He set it down and sat up to look at Ciel, who was sitting in a chair that he had turned around in to look at him.

“What do you mean?” he asked, a bored expression on his face. He hoped he wasn’t going to be given another thankless assignment.

“I need to learn if we live in a universe where a person can go back in time without being able to change the timeline because their presence in the past was already predetermined, or if we live in a universe where a person can go back in time and immediately start butterfly-effecting away the entire future ahead of the moment they landed in.”

Sebastian had to think about that for a moment. Time travel wasn’t his favored topic conceptually. However, he wondered if he could turn the fact that Ciel once again wanted his assistance to his advantage.

He had been thinking a lot about the last ‘job’ Ciel had given him, to keep watch for other time travelers, and he had been working on it as well, though he had not yet seen anything. He needed to figure out a way to know if Ciel was telling the truth about only wanting to send a message back with any potential individual he might find. He simply couldn’t stop thinking about the issue and about what kind of test he could give Ciel to determine it one way or the other.

He had decided that the best way he had to find out would be to try to convince Ciel to let him take him out of the country. If anyone did come looking for Ciel, Britain was likely where they would look first, so if Sebastian could take Ciel abroad, it would lower the chance that anyone would find him. And if Ciel agreed to leave, Sebastian felt it substantially increased the chance that the boy had been telling the truth in the first place and that he himself had simply overreacted. But if Ciel refused...

This was as good an opportunity as any. However, he would have to make arguments that seemed genuinely related to helping Ciel get home and not just related to Sebastian’s personal preferences, both to convince Ciel and to avoid breaking their contract himself (as taking Ciel from Britain, where he was most likely to be found, could only be justified if somewhere else would also be useful in helping Ciel get home).

“Well, this wouldn’t exactly help with figuring out the nature of the universe, but it might help with getting you home in general. In the United States they have many supercomputers, including the world’s largest. I believe you once mentioned to me that you thought you might be able to turn your machine back on if you could connect it to one. I could take you there so you could try it. You could also use the tiny amount of modern English you’ve picked up there.”

Sebastian had chosen America as one of his preferred destinations for a couple of reasons. The first was that it would place the entirety of the Atlantic ocean between them and Britain, and therefore between them and anyone looking for Ciel in Britain. The second was that it was a large country, and large countries had certain advantages to them. They were easier to lose yourself in, easier to become just another two people among the hundreds of millions already living there. They also had many attractions that he hoped would interest Ciel and keep his mind occupied.

Ciel was surprised to hear this sort of suggestion from Sebastian. He had expected him to refuse to help or to give barely useful answers, but this was a real idea.

“Do you think they would have a mechanism for connecting it?” he asked. He had no connector cords of any sort with him for the time machine and did not think it was even intended to be plugged in. His best guess was that it used wireless charging, and that it was likely intended to connect to computers in the same manner, but he was not certain.

“Probably not one that’s already prepared, but I can force a few of the computer scientists there to help us. If it’s possible to connect them, they are more likely to figure it out than we are. And while we’re in America, there is no reason we couldn’t also stop by some of the better universities and talk to some physicists about your ‘nature of the universe’ question. They will provide their true opinions if I make them.”

“That...might work,” he replied. It had not occurred to him to enlist the help of modern experts, except in the manner of reading their books. But of course, now that he thought about it, Sebastian could force any human in the world to help him. He was relieved that this attempt at getting Sebastian’s help with something relating to getting home had gone a lot better than last time. Ciel was still angry with Sebastian for being such an idiot and not listening to him, but less so now that he seemed to be trying to help.

He stood up and walked over to where Sebastian was sitting on the bed. He paused for a second, uncertain, then made his decision and climbed onto his lap, with each of his knees on either side of Sebastian’s legs. He placed one hand on the side of Sebastian’s face.

“Have you finally decided you believe me?” he asked. “Is that why you’re suddenly being so helpful instead of just...mostly ignoring me, like you have been?” He couldn’t help but sound annoyed about that.

Sebastian resisted the urge to grab Ciel. Having him so close again, on his lap...he had missed it. But he had to know.

“Will you allow me to take you somewhere?” he countered, not answering Ciel’s question. “It doesn’t have to be America. If you want to go somewhere else, I will bring you. Other countries have powerful computers and physicists as well.” _I would bring you anywhere in the world if you would agree to go,_ he thought.

Ciel nodded.

“Of course. America would probably be fine, I guess,” he said. He wasn’t sure why this was important to Sebastian, but he could tell that it was. Was it simply because of his general paranoia about staying in one place too long? Well, regardless, he did not see any insurmountable problem with it. Sebastian could keep up with British news just as easily from abroad as from here, and he was sure they could get back reasonably quickly if they needed to. He knew airplanes existed in this era, as he had seen them on TV.

Sebastian pulled Ciel closer to him and pressed a kiss to his lips demandingly, bringing one hand to the side of Ciel’s head to hold it in place. Ciel was startled at first, but he soon wrapped his arms around Sebastian’s neck and kissed back to the best of his ability, pleased to be doing this again. He had found it unexpectedly difficult to adjust to not receiving sexual attention from Sebastian after their fight.

Sebastian undid the buttons on Ciel’s shirt and stopped kissing him so he could pull it off. He set it aside, and when he looked at Ciel’s body, he noticed that the boy had a bruise on his arm where Sebastian had grabbed him before. He carefully grabbed his arm again, in a different spot and more gently than last time, to take a closer look.

“I do believe you now,” he said, and he leaned in and placed a feather-light kiss on the bruise. “I’m sorry about this. I would lick it if it would help it heal, but it only helps if it can get into the wound.”

Ciel looked away.

“I-It’s fine. It doesn’t hurt anymore,” he said, a little embarrassed. He didn’t want Sebastian to perceive him as weak or fragile, though he knew that he realistically was in comparison to the vampire. “Just don’t be stupid in the future and believe me when I tell you something.”

“That’s an interesting request coming from someone who trusted me so little that he put a demand that I not lie to him into our contract.”

“That...was a different situation,” replied Ciel. “And besides, I might lie to you about things that don’t matter, like when you asked me last week if I had been drinking milk directly out of the container and I said no. But I won’t lie about something important.”

_I knew it!_ thought Sebastian. He had thought the milk container smelled a little too much like Ciel when he opened it to cook a meal for him. He knew Ciel likely justified this with the fact that he was the only one who drank it or ate meals made from it, but still.

“Why should I believe that a dishonest boy like you would be honest about important things specifically?” he asked in a teasing tone. He leaned in and gently nipped his neck, not hard enough to draw blood.

“Because I said so, and because if I was trying to betray you and leave, I would never have allowed you to do...things that aren’t in the contract.”

Sebastian looked at Ciel. His face was a little red, so very cute, and Sebastian wanted him immediately. He picked him up in his arms and quickly shifted their position so that Ciel was laying down on the bed with Sebastian on his hands and knees above him. He leaned in and kissed him again, and he felt Ciel wrap his arms and legs around him. It felt good to have Ciel’s warmth so close.

“Sebastian...” said Ciel after a moment, when Sebastian had pulled back. “I have another demand for you.”

Sebastian shifted his face to Ciel’s neck and bit it a little harder, drawing some blood, though he did not yet sink his fangs in. He licked the blood that marred Ciel’s smooth skin and pressed himself up against Ciel’s body a little more firmly.

“Hm…? I don’t know that you’re really in a position to be making demands. But I will listen anyway. What is it?”

“If you’re going to be really controlling over who I get to see...then I want to control who you get to see too,” said Ciel. He could feel Sebastian’s dick against his ass through their clothes and he tightened his legs around him. The sharp feeling of Sebastian’s teeth against his neck made him shift against him, and he could feel himself getting hard. “I want you to promise to only drink blood from me and to only do...these things...with me, for as long as our contract is in place.”

Though he didn’t think Sebastian had done either of those things with anyone else since he had met him, Ciel was often concerned about it. Sebastian went out alone at night regularly, and Ciel knew that Sebastian didn’t drink as much as he would have liked to from him due to his small size. He wondered if Sebastian ever got hungry because of it, if he was ever tempted to ‘supplement’ the meals he got from Ciel… He couldn’t stand the thought. If their relationship was going to be the way it was, and if Sebastian was going to be so possessive of him, then Ciel had no interest in sharing Sebastian with anyone else either.

Sebastian looked down at Ciel, studying his beautiful face, his serious expression, the purple mark on his eye that proved he was Sebastian’s. He was so pleased with the choice he had made for a human companion. For Ciel to not only willingly give himself to him, but to also desire to be the only one Sebastian gave such attention to...it was remarkable. He regretted doubting Ciel’s commitment to their agreement, as it seemed clear now that he had nothing to be concerned about. He leaned in and kissed the side of Ciel’s neck, breathing in his scent. As long as he had the option to drink from Ciel, to touch his soft skin, he couldn’t imagine wanting anyone else.

“...I will agree to this, under two conditions. The first is that you must continue to feed me sufficiently. I won’t promise to starve myself if you don’t,” he said, and he brought one hand to Ciel’s side. He gently grazed his fangs against Ciel’s neck, feeling a strange pleasure from resisting the temptation to bite down. “The second is that you have to specify exactly what it is that you don’t want me to do with other people.”

“I…” Ciel began, “I promised to give you my blood, and I will. You can take as much as you want, as long as you don’t kill me. And…” he paused and lowered his voice. “I don’t want you to do any kind of...sexual activities with anyone else.”

Sebastian pulled back slightly to look at Ciel, then leaned in to kiss him, using one hand to smooth back the boy’s hair.

“Very well,” he said after a moment. _If allowing myself to belong to you will keep you with me, then it is not a problem at all,_ he thought, although he knew other vampires would consider the idea of tying themselves down to one human intolerable.

He reached down and unbuttoned Ciel’s pants, and he felt the boy unwrap his arms and legs from him so he could take his clothes off.

“Take yours off too,” said Ciel. He was no longer very embarrassed by seeing Sebastian undressed and he had finally accepted that he enjoyed seeing him that way. He knew Sebastian often disregarded removing his own clothes and would simply undress Ciel and pull himself out of his pants, but Ciel wanted to see his vexing vampire as well this time.

Sebastian smiled a little, pleased with this request. He immensely enjoyed the fact that Ciel liked the way he looked, and after he had divested Ciel off all of his remaining clothing, he set to work unbuttoning his own shirt and pulling it off. He set it aside, and he noticed that Ciel was watching him as he did so. He watched him back, taking note of the way Ciel’s chest and sides looked almost completely unmarred, the older marks having healed already. He unbuttoned his pants and pulled off the rest of his clothing, then crawled back over Ciel.

Ciel wrapped his arms and legs back around Sebastian, pulling him closer.

“Hurry…” he said. After having been neglected while Sebastian was angry with him, he felt a strong need to be touched, and he did not want to wait.

Sebastian leaned in and brought his mouth back to the side of Ciel’s neck he had already bitten a little. It wasn’t bleeding anymore, but with his clothing off and his body so close to Sebastian’s, Ciel’s scent was stronger and he felt an instinctive need to bite down. Ciel was so small and defenseless beneath him...he wanted to make up for the time he had missed, wanted to cover his skin with bites and scratches, wanted to do so much more than that…

He slid his fangs into Ciel’s neck and he heard the boy make a soft noise of surprise before he tightened his grip around him. As the blood flowed into his mouth and their bodies grew closer, he felt Ciel shift impatiently against him. He brought one hand down between them and wrapped it around Ciel’s little cock, which was already hard.

Ciel closed his eyes as Sebastian started stroking him. It was gentle, too gentle, but it was something, and he held onto Sebastian as he felt the vampire sink his fangs just a little bit more deeply into his neck, the pain of it providing a sharp and somewhat pleasing contrast to the feeling he was getting from the hand on his dick.

“Sebastian...I want…” he began, quietly, then trailed off. He had already found it embarrassing earlier to have to tell Sebastian exactly what he didn’t want him doing with other people, and he didn’t want to have to do something similar again.

Sebastian was barely listening, distracted by the exquisite taste of Ciel’s blood. The warmth of it, the scent, the way it filled him as Ciel willingly bared his neck for him...it made him want even more. He shifted slightly so his cock could rub up against Ciel’s stomach, and the feeling of the boy’s smooth skin against him made him desperate to finally enter him.

After he had taken as much blood as he felt Ciel could afford to lose, he pulled his fangs back out from his neck, carefully licking the wounds he had left and admiring the way they looked on Ciel’s skin. He removed his hand from Ciel’s dick. Then he recalled that he thought he might have heard something.

“...did you say something?” he asked.

“Um…” Ciel said, looking away. “Can you...do more?” He felt a little lightheaded after losing blood, but he was still hard and wanted so badly to be touched in an even more intimate manner. “Like maybe...with your mouth...and fingers…?”

Sebastian leaned in and kissed him deeply, just for a moment. Ciel could taste his blood in Sebastian’s mouth, and it was becoming so familiar now that it seemed like a normal part of a kiss to him.

“Of course,” replied Sebastian, “Whatever you want. However, I do have a similar request for you.”

“What is it?”

“I would like you to try using your mouth as well.”

Sebastian knew he would not be able to get himself inside of Ciel’s other opening yet, as the boy still needed more practice with relaxing and being stretched before he would be able to accommodate Sebastian’s size, but he still felt that he _needed_ to get inside of Ciel somehow, and this seemed like the easiest solution. The thought of finally sliding inside of his beautiful and petulant lips, feeling the warmth of his mouth...it was so enticing.

“I…” Ciel began. He paused and thought about it for a second. “I will try. I don’t...really know what to do, though.”

Sebastian began kissing a trail down Ciel’s chest, intermittently leaving bites and scratches, unable to resist marking his delicate skin and licking the delicious blood that arose from the wounds. Ciel unwrapped his arms and legs from around Sebastian as he did this, to give him more room to move around, gripping the sheets beneath him from the alternating sensations of pain and pleasure.

“That’s fine,” Sebastian murmured in between kisses to Ciel’s chest. “I will go first, and you can try to copy me when it’s your turn.” _Although you won’t be able to do it quite the same way as I usually do,_ he thought. 

When he got down between Ciel’s legs, he first covered a few of his fingers in saliva and used them to cover the outside of Ciel’s hole in it. Then, after he felt Ciel was ready, he applied a bit more saliva and started sliding in one finger. 

At the same time, he brought his mouth to Ciel’s little cock and began licking it, starting with the tip. He could taste a bit of precome that had leaked out, and he tried to demonstrate good technique as he slowly slid his lips down, using his tongue to provide additional stimulation. He could have easily taken Ciel’s entire length into his mouth all at once, but he didn’t want Ciel to try to do that with him and accidentally choke himself.

Ciel brought one hand to Sebastian’s head and slid his fingers into his hair, gripping it as he felt pleasure build inside of him. He tried to pay attention to what Sebastian was doing, but he found it difficult to focus. He felt Sebastian slide another finger inside of him and it took everything he had to avoid the instinct to clench down, instead forcing himself to relax and allow him inside. It hurt a little to be stretched open, but it felt good too, especially in combination with Sebastian’s mouth on him. 

Sebastian continued to pleasure Ciel with his mouth, and after a bit he decided to try putting a third finger inside of him. He felt Ciel tighten around him suddenly for a moment before slowly relaxing again, allowing Sebastian to slide further in and stretch Ciel more than before. He brought his mouth down all the way on Ciel’s cock and gave it a firm suck as he pressed his fingers in as far as he could.

“Mmh…!” Ciel moaned as he came and tried to cover his mouth with his free hand when he heard himself doing so. His ass felt so full with three of Sebastian’s fingers deep inside of him, and Sebastian’s mouth was so warm and wet around his cock. He pressed himself up into Sebastian’s mouth as his orgasm came over him. When it was finished, he laid back against the bed, breathing a little more quickly than usual.

Sebastian carefully pulled his fingers out of Ciel and slid his mouth off of him. He let Ciel rest for a minute and placed kisses to one of his inner thighs. The skin there was incredibly soft and he wanted to bite it, but he did not think Ciel would appreciate being startled like that right after he came. After a moment, Ciel sat up and looked at him, seeming a little unsure.

“All right...I’m ready,” said Ciel. “How should we...be positioned?”

Sebastian shifted off the bed and stood up. He had always imagined it that way, and he wanted to be able to look down at Ciel’s face while he did it.

“You should get on your hands and knees. You’ll be at just the right height if you stay on the bed like that.”

Ciel felt his face getting red at this, but he did as he was instructed and crawled near the edge of the bed, close to Sebastian. He found he was indeed at the right height, and he reached out one hand and began stroking Sebastian’s dick, a little uncertain of how to begin.

_How did he start again? I think...with his tongue?_ he thought. This close up he was a bit more nervous. He had gotten mostly used to seeing Sebastian’s cock by now, and even enjoyed using his hands to bring his vampire to orgasm, as he loved to see the proof that Sebastian (who could have had anyone) found his touch that pleasurable, but using his mouth was an entirely different experience.

He leaned in and used his tongue to carefully lick the tip of Sebastian’s cock, and he felt Sebastian place a hand on his head and gently slide his fingers into his hair. He licked it a little more, moving his tongue around the head of his cock, then slowly took it into his mouth.

Sebastian had to resist the impulse to force Ciel’s face onto him more quickly. His licks and the warmth of his mouth felt good, but he could tell the boy was unsure of himself and needed guidance.

“Good…” he said, and he applied a little bit of pressure to Ciel’s head with his hand, just enough to encourage him. “You’re doing so well…”

Ciel took a little more of Sebastian’s dick into his mouth, and he used his hand to start stroking the rest of it. He tried to use his tongue the way he thought Sebastian had been doing it, but he wasn’t sure he was doing it correctly. As he slid his mouth further on, he soon reached the point where he ran out of room inside, and he was disappointed to find he had only managed to take about half of Sebastian’s length.

He looked up at him, and he noticed that Sebastian was watching him intently. He tried not to let himself be embarrassed by this and instead tried pulling back and then sliding his mouth back on, tightening his lips around him. He felt Sebastian’s hand grip his hair a little more and he did his best to start properly moving his mouth on and off, taking as much as he could each time.

Sebastian found the sight of Ciel taking him in his mouth fascinating to watch, and though he was not particularly skilled at it, the tight wetness of his little mouth still felt every bit as good as he had ever imagined. He could feel Ciel struggling to take in more of him, unable to get much further down than halfway, and he had to close his eyes to reduce the urge to press forward, down into his throat. He could feel himself beginning to get close.

“That’s... _very_ good,” he told him. “Just...a little more...and then you might want to use your hands, if you don’t want me to finish in your mouth.”

Ciel could tell from Sebastian’s tone of voice that he was really enjoying what Ciel was doing for him, and it gave him a feeling of pride and satisfaction. He wanted Sebastian to continue enjoying it as much as possible right to the end, wanted to impress him and prove to him that he could keep up with him sexually. He knew Sebastian had not needed to agree to his demand to only be with him, and yet he had, and Ciel didn’t want him to ever start regretting that.

He placed one hand on Sebastian’s thigh and used the other to continue stroking the parts of his cock that he couldn’t reach with his mouth. He worked his mouth on and off, trying to keep his lips tight around him and using his tongue. He tried to relax his throat to take in as much as he could, and he managed to get a little bit further than before.

Sebastian was surprised when Ciel didn’t stop using his mouth, but he had no intention of making him if he didn’t want to. The last thing he felt like doing was removing himself from his slick warmth. When he felt Ciel take him in a little further, it was enough to send him over the edge, and he held onto Ciel’s head with his hand as he came, holding him in place, gripping his hair more tightly than before. He moaned quietly, a low sound he could not help letting out as the feeling of coming inside of Ciel’s mouth was too pleasurable.

Ciel tried to swallow when he felt Sebastian come, but it was hard to do so as his mouth was so full. He could taste it on his tongue, a bit strange, but not bad, and not entirely dissimilar to the fainter tastes of his own he had gotten from Sebastian’s mouth before. He had to push his head back against Sebastian’s hand for a moment before the vampire released him, and when he was able to remove his mouth from him he couldn’t help but cough a little, still feeling the tip of his cock against the back of his throat.

Sebastian climbed back onto the bed with Ciel and sat next to him. He turned Ciel to face him and placed one hand on his face, tilting it up. He leaned in and kissed him gently.

“You did such a good job,” he murmured, and he moved his hand to Ciel’s hair, smoothing it down and petting him.

Ciel looked down, a little embarrassed.

“It...wasn’t a big deal,” he said. “I just thought...if you can do it, there’s no reason I can’t.”

“There are so many things I can do that you can’t,” Sebastian replied, amused.

“Not as many as you think,” Ciel shot back. He wanted Sebastian to take him seriously and to stop underestimating him.

“Maybe not,” he conceded, and he grabbed Ciel and pulled him onto his lap. “Did you want to take a bath?”

Ciel looked down at himself and noticed that he was a lot cleaner than he expected. _Oh, I suppose if we both...there won’t be any on me_ , he thought.

“Mm...no, not right now,” he said, and he thought for a moment. “Will you play a game with me instead?”

“Sure, what kind of game?” Sebastian said, briefly wondering if Ciel was requesting to go again.

“Chess,” replied Ciel, and he pulled himself out of Sebastian’s lap and went to the dresser their clothes were in. He started looking through his. He had quite a lot of clothing now, as Sebastian often bought him things he had found on the internet that he thought would look good on him. Much of it was dress clothes, nice-looking ones that were not so ostentatious as to attract attention, but some of it was stuff like shorts that hardly covered his thighs at all or skimpy underclothing that was clearly intended for Sebastian’s enjoyment as much as Ciel’s. He did not usually wear these, as he had insisted that he intended to pick out his own underwear, but now he was in a different sort of mood.

He picked out a pair of blue panties with frills on them, then went to one of Sebastian’s drawers and dug through his clothes until he found what he wanted, a comfortable grey t-shirt that had a matching pair of pajama pants. He pulled both out and set them on top of the dresser. Standing with his back to Sebastian, knowing he was watching and not entirely minding it, he slipped his legs into the panties and pulled them up, enjoying the feeling of the smooth silk as it rubbed against him. Then he grabbed the t-shirt and turned around, facing Sebastian as he pulled it over his head. It was long on him, like a nightgown, with the end brushing against his thighs. He tossed the pants at Sebastian.

“You can wear that part.”

Sebastian continued watching Ciel for a moment, enthralled by the little show he had put on. Then he stood up and put the pants on, pleased to be sharing an outfit with Ciel. It was the first time Ciel had worn his clothing since the day they met, when he had not had any other options. But now he had plenty of his own clothing, which made it all the more special that Ciel would choose to wear his instead.

He went and grabbed their chess set, which was a relatively recent purchase that Ciel had asked for when they were shopping one day, and began setting it up on the table. It made him realize that they had gradually accumulated a significant amount of personal possessions during the time Ciel had been living with him. It would be inconvenient to bring it all with on their upcoming trip, and it made the job of packing and unpacking their stuff when they moved hotels (which always fell to him) more tedious than it would otherwise have been, but somehow he felt that it would disappoint Ciel if he tried to pare their stuff down before they left.

When the board was fully set up, he sat down, and Ciel sat down across from him. The first time they had played, Sebastian had not taken Ciel seriously and had been defeated. Ever since then he was much more careful. He had not initially expected Ciel to have any real ability in the game, as he thought someone from the future should have too many other things to focus on to develop an interest in an old game like chess, but he had been proven incorrect. Now that he focused during their games, they were well matched.

He had learned that Ciel was quite fond of games in general, though the boy found modern video games difficult to tolerate due to their low graphic quality compared to what he was accustomed to and his language barrier. 

Sebastian wondered if he should try to find more games Ciel would like. Though he was no longer angry with him, he still felt that Ciel was spending entirely too much time recently worrying about things like getting home and physics problems. Perhaps distracting him with more games would help. _Yes_ , he thought, _I must find things to keep his attention on me, or on anything but trying to go home. I have to stop leaving him alone so much. That is why he has had so much time to worry about things he shouldn’t be concerned with. I should take him places more, spend more time with him. Whether it’s playing games with him, taking him somewhere he enjoys, or anything else, as long as it keeps his attention where it should be, it is worth doing._

As he alternated chess moves with Ciel, he resolved to do everything he could to rectify his prior mistakes. He had avoided a disaster this time, but there was no guarantee that that would be the case next time. He had to ensure Ciel wanted to be with him more than he wanted to go home. It would be difficult doing that while simultaneously adhering to his agreement to help him get home, but he thought if he was careful, he could walk that tightrope. His balance was excellent, after all.


	9. Chapter 9

“Wait, what do you mean we’re not taking a plane there?”

“I don’t take transatlantic plane flights.”

Ciel couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He had agreed to this trip because he thought it would be quick to get there and back if needed.

“You can’t possibly be scared of flying, can you…?” he asked, scoffing.

“No. The problem is that it’s essentially impossible to make the entire trip, including the time spent at the airport at both ends, during the night. The flights are just too long.”

Ciel sat down in a comfortable chair and thought about this, trying to figure out a way around it, but before he could, Sebastian had handed him a brochure.

“That’s how we’ll be going instead. I wouldn’t normally pick such an upscale option, but since I’ll be having a little lord traveling with me this time…”

Ciel couldn’t read the text of the brochure, but he could tell from the pictures that it was advertising an ocean liner. He flipped through it, looking at the luxurious rooms and abundant amenities onboard.

“I’m not a little lord,” he replied as he did so. “My father is a CEO.”

“Ah, my mistake,” said Sebastian, and he started pulling their belongings out of their drawers to pack them up. “You’re a capitalist little lord and not a feudalist one. It’s so easy to get them mixed up at my age, having met both types and all.”

“Just be quiet Sebastian, you don’t know anything about my upbringing.”

He had to admit, though, that the idea of traveling in luxury sounded appealing to him. It wouldn’t be anything like what he was used to; nothing in this time would. But it would be closer.

“How long will this take?” asked Ciel.

“About a week.”

“What if we need to get back here quickly?”

Ciel did not mind so much if the trip to America took a little while, but he was concerned about the idea of the reverse trip taking time if someone showed up in Britain looking for him.

“You shouldn’t worry so much about it. If we need to come back, we will. Don’t you think someone who is searching for you would wait? It would take much longer than a week for them to properly search London by itself, let alone the entirety of Britain.”

Not to mention that there was no guarantee that such a person would ever show up, and they couldn't allow their entire lives to be constrained by the possibility that one would. But Sebastian kept that opinion to himself.

Ciel continued to look through the brochure, finding that he liked what he saw despite his predisposition to be against this.

“Well...I suppose, yes,” he said. “I guess this is fine. When will we be leaving?”

“Very late tomorrow night, or perhaps more accurately early the following morning. I have already booked our passage under our false identities. The ship won’t set sail until later that day, but we will have to board a little early.”

“How come you’re packing now, then?”

“Because we have a lot of stuff. _You_ have a lot of stuff. And I want to get it all ready to go ahead of time because we will have to take a taxi there tomorrow.”

“Why? You have a car.”

“I won’t have one tomorrow. I’m selling it tonight. I’ve already found a buyer,” replied Sebastian. “Would you like to come with?”

Bringing Ciel along went against his general inclination to want to keep Ciel away from people, but he was determined to try to spend more time with him to keep him from being alone so much, and now was as good a time as any to start.

“Hmm...okay,” replied Ciel, a little surprised. He watched Sebastian as he continued packing their belongings away in suitcases, feeling pleased to have been invited along and to have not been expected to help pack. He was not accustomed to doing chores, and he felt fortunate to be living with someone who did not seem to mind that.

* * *

When they boarded the ship the following night it was nearly morning, the sun not yet up but threatening to start peeking over the horizon any moment, and Sebastian was very relieved when he was able to close the cabin door behind him after loading all of their baggage into their room.

He had booked a room in the core of the ship, without windows. It was not one of the most luxurious options available, and he would have preferred to pick a more opulent one for Ciel’s enjoyment had one been available without windows, but the fancier options all came with the natural presumption that those renting them would like to see the sun every once in a while. 

Despite this, it was nice enough, better than what he would have picked had he been alone. There were two comfortable beds and sufficient storage space for their stuff. They would also have plenty of entertainment options available on the ship, including at times that worked for Sebastian.

He worked on putting their stuff away, allowing Ciel to lay back and relax on one of the beds, looking through some leaflets that had been on their desk when they entered the room.

“Do you see anything you would like to do while we’re here?” Sebastian asked.

Between the previous brochure he had seen and the leaflets he was looking at now, Ciel had seen a wide range of activities the ocean liner offered. It was a large ship, and it had numerous restaurants and shops, as well as a library, a casino, a spa, multiple pools, a salon, a gym, a theater, and many more things.

“We could go relax out on the sun deck,” he offered, smirking. There was, in fact, a large area dedicated to allowing passengers to lay in the sun.

“Hilarious,” replied Sebastian dryly. _Though that wouldn’t be too bad at night_ , he thought. He would not mind looking at the moon and stars with Ciel.

“Can you use your powers to cheat at casino games? That might be amusing.”

“In certain circumstances, yes. But I don’t think they will allow you to be in the casino, and I cannot hypnotize people _en masse_ into doing so.”

Ciel frowned and looked back at the leaflets. He really would have liked to have seen Sebastian do something cool, like use super speed to look at other people’s cards without them knowing or use hypnosis to convince the dealer to cheat on his behalf.

“All right, well...how about you take me to the library?”

Sebastian was surprised at this request and paused in putting away their things.

“I can take you, but you won’t be able to read any of the books there.”

“I know,” replied Ciel. “I…was thinking you could read to me. Something interesting and fun, not something like the physics books.”

Sebastian had to resist the impulse to smile. This was perfect, exactly what he was looking for, a reason to spend time with Ciel and an activity to distract him from thinking about pointless things.

“Of course. Does this mean I don’t have to read the physics books anymore?”

“You can stop working on them for now,” Ciel conceded. “While we’re here you’re going to have to take me to restaurants for all of my meals, and if you have nothing to do while we’re there it will look strange, so you can read to me then. And maybe other times, if we both feel like it.”

“That sounds fine,” replied Sebastian. _It might look a little strange for me to be reading to you at restaurants as well_ , he thought. But it didn’t matter. Everyone would just think they were foreigners with unusual habits. “Is there anything else you would like to do? I seem to recall that there was going to be dancing in the ballroom.”

“No!” said Ciel, shocked. “We can’t do something that would make us look...like something other than our cover story.”

“I was joking,” said Sebastian, amused. He had no intention of doing anything that would cause irritating trouble for him in the middle of their journey, since they couldn’t easily leave while on a ship. “But do you know how to dance?”

Ciel looked away.

“No, and I don’t need to know how to.”

“Your parents never hired anyone to teach you?”

“No. They did for my brother, but that’s because he has a fiancée and she likes to dance.”

“Your _twin_ brother is engaged?” replied Sebastian, unsure if he was understanding this correctly. Did Ciel perhaps also have another brother, one who was older?

“Yes. Is there something strange about that?”

“In this time there would be. I must admit, I did not expect that child betrothals would come back into style in the future.”

“They’re mostly done among families like mine. It has something to do with inheritance. He doesn’t really _have_ to marry her when he grows up if he doesn’t want to, but it’s socially expected. She’s from a family that’s even wealthier than ours.”

“...do you also have a fiancée?” Sebastian asked, a part of him still in disbelief that this was even a possibility. He had never anticipated that Ciel might have some form of serious pre-existing romantic ties to anyone, so he had never bothered to ask. Not that it really mattered; Ciel was his regardless and would remain so, no matter what some teenage girl from the future had to say about it. But the concept still vaguely disturbed him.

Ciel looked up at him from where he was laying on the bed and noticed the look of subtle unease on Sebastian’s face. He waited a moment before replying, just to savor the moment where he held a bit of power over him, enjoying the feeling of having Sebastian being concerned about this.

“...no, my parents haven’t set up a match for me yet. I won’t be inheriting as much of the family wealth as my brother, so it’s not as important. But if I was still home, it’s possible that they would be working on it.”

“And you said I knew nothing about your upbringing,” replied Sebastian, and he resumed putting away their belongings, feeling slightly relieved. “I was right about you coming from a ‘noble’ family, more right than I even knew. The same marriage practices were common among feudal lords when I was human, and for the same reasons.”

“It’s not the same,” protested Ciel. “I went to school, you know, before I got stuck here. Just like any other kid my age.” He chose to leave out that he and his brother attended a very expensive and exclusive private academy.

“You’ve been so pampered that you can’t even dress yourself. I bet you had servants to help you put on your school uniform each morning, hm?”

Ciel felt his face turn a little red.

“Uh...yes, but I didn’t need _that_ much help anymore. None of my clothes had buttons or anything on them like the stuff you bought me.”

Sebastian found Ciel’s background fascinating. It could not have been more different from his own. _No wonder he tries to order me around so much,_ he thought. _He is accustomed to having multiple servants at his beck and call and now he has no one else but me._ He did not really mind. But it did make him feel that his plan to increase their general standard of living so that Ciel would be happier living with him was probably a good one. He disliked staying in upscale hotels because they had too many humans around. Front desk staff, bellboys, housekeepers, concierges...there were always people around, poking into his business. But Ciel might enjoy it, so he resolved that they would stay in one when they arrived in New York.

“Fine, fine. Well, if your parents didn’t, then perhaps someday I will teach you to dance.”

Ciel wasn’t sure how he felt about that prospect. The idea of dancing with anyone made him nervous, since he didn’t know what to do and he knew he would probably embarrass himself. That was even more likely with Sebastian, since they had such a large height difference. But he also thought that if they were alone, with no one else watching, it might not be too bad. _I suppose most people dance with each other before they do...certain other things…_ he thought. There was a lot about their relationship that had not happened in what he thought of as the ‘correct order’.

“If you really want to...I guess we can,” he said, trying to sound disinterested. “But not in public.”

* * *

Ciel didn’t recognize any of the books in the library, so he allowed Sebastian to look through them for him and give him options to choose from. He had to reject some of Sebastian’s suggestions, such as _Carmilla_ , for being too reminiscent of his day to day life. 

“I already have you drinking my blood every day,” he reminded him. “I can take a break from it during _my_ meals.” Though he did want to learn more about vampires, he did not think reading fiction would be helpful for that. He would have no way to tell which details were true and which were false.

He accepted a couple of Sebastian’s other suggestions, _A Study in Scarlet,_ which was the first Sherlock Holmes novel, and _Alice in Wonderland,_ because he was familiar with both franchises in general but had never read the original books before. 

Over the next few days, Sebastian took Ciel out to eat at different restaurants and dining areas and read to him. Since Ciel lived on Sebastian’s schedule and ate in the evening and early morning, there were not generally too many other people around, so they did not attract as much attention as Sebastian had thought they might, though they were never fortunate enough to be alone either. For _A Study in Scarlet,_ Sebastian sometimes had to pause to provide explanations of certain details relating to the time period it was set in, but Ciel still enjoyed the story nonetheless.

They also visited many of the shops on board the ship, and Ciel managed to convince Sebastian to purchase him too many different types of chocolates and other sweets, which Sebastian later had to attempt to properly ration out to him in reasonable quantities.

At one point Ciel wanted to swim in one of the pools, but Sebastian had to deny him this as it would be impossible to properly cover up all of the marks on his body and it would be unusual for a boy to swim with a shirt on.

Other than that, they spent most of their time in their cabin. They both found it a little stressful to maintain an appropriate public image while outside, so they did not mind if it meant they missed some of the festivities elsewhere on board.

* * *

One night, about halfway through their voyage, Sebastian took Ciel up on his offer to sit on the sun deck and brought him there after he was finished with his meal at one of the ship’s restaurants.

“I was kidding about this, you know,” said Ciel when he realized where they were going.

“I know. I still thought it might be interesting. And look, we have the place to ourselves,” replied Sebastian, gesturing to the many empty spots. That night, at least, they were the only ones with any desire to be there when the sun wasn’t up.

Sebastian sat down on one of the deck chairs and adjusted it to recline back. He watched as Ciel did the same in a chair close to his, then looked up at the sky. The moon was bright, and since they were out on the ocean away from the light pollution of cities, the stars were numerous and shining.

Ciel watched the sky as well, noting some of the constellations he recognized. It was strangely relieving to see that they were the same here, as so little else was unchanged from his earlier life.

“Sebastian,” he asked after a while, and he glanced over at him. “Do you ever miss being able to go out in the sun?”

Sebastian considered that for a moment before answering.

“...no, not exactly. I don’t miss seeing it, anyway. But it is incredibly inconvenient sometimes to have to go out of my way to avoid it. Especially when traveling.”

“Why when traveling?”

“Well, for instance, the last time I crossed the ocean to the new world like this, it was…very different. I had no human of my own at the time, and I was not on a luxurious ocean liner. I was on a cargo ship, pretending to be a corpse in a coffin to protect myself from sunlight. I had to carefully leave the coffin at night and drink from whoever happened to be available to live, wiping their memories of the event each time.”

Ciel thought about this for a while, unsure how he felt about it.

“So...before you had me, was that how you lived all the time? Drinking from anyone who was convenient, I mean?”

Sebastian glanced over at him, observing his thoughtful expression.

“Not exactly. In cities there are a lot of options, but on a ship one must take what one can get. I would drink from whoever was convenient if there were no better possibilities, but I would always choose the one I thought would taste best if there were an abundance to pick from.”

This brought his mind to the last time he had picked out the one he thought would taste best from all of those available to him in a city, the one who had stood out above any of the others. He reached out and grabbed Ciel’s hand that was nearest to him and brought it close to his face. He breathed in, allowing Ciel’s scent to fill his conscious awareness.

“Hey! You can’t...someone might see,” said Ciel, but he didn’t pull away, too distracted by the feeling of Sebastian’s larger hand holding onto his smaller one.

“Mm...don’t worry, there’s no one here but us,” replied Sebastian, and he placed a kiss to the back of Ciel’s hand. _He’s right, someone could come by at any moment,_ a part of him thought. _This is a bad idea._ But he ignored it. Ciel’s scent was so pleasant, his skin so soft against his lips.

“Sebastian…” Ciel protested softly, but he couldn’t bring himself to make him stop. He felt Sebastian start tracing the veins in his hand with his fingertip, and he noticed that the vampire looked almost mesmerized by them.

“It’s all different now, you know,” said Sebastian as he ran his finger along Ciel’s blue veins, easily visible to him in the bright moonlight. “Traveling has become easier with time, as more options are now available. And obtaining blood has become easier...with you.”

“O-of course it’s easier when you don’t have to look for someone new every time…” murmured Ciel. He sat up and looked around, but allowed Sebastian to continue holding onto his hand for the moment when he didn’t see anyone else near them.

“Yes, but that was not always obvious to me. There was a time when I thought it would be more trouble to bring a human of my own with me everywhere I went...I thought ‘why bother when there is blood everywhere?’” He placed a kiss to the inside of Ciel’s wrist, where he could see his veins and could smell the scent of his blood, so close, just beneath his skin. “I did not, at the time, understand the true value of having someone of my very own.”

Ciel felt his face get a little red. He knew Sebastian enjoyed his presence, but he had a hard time believing he could have made such a significant difference in the life of a person like him.

“That’s…” he trailed off, unsure how to respond. “You’re not just...really hungry right now, right?” He had seen Sebastian get weirdly fixated on him before when he was hungry, and this kind of reminded him of that.

“...I am hungry, but that’s not why I’m paying attention to you.”

Sebastian aligned his hand with Ciel’s and carefully interlaced his fingers with the smaller ones of the boy, just to see how it felt. He found he enjoyed it very much, the feeling of Ciel’s smooth skin against his own, his tiny hand safe and protected in his grasp. _I wish I could hold his hand like this whenever we go anywhere, to keep him close,_ he thought, though he knew it was impossible.

Ciel knew he shouldn’t find this embarrassing. He had touched a much more intimate part of Sebastian’s body before, so holding his hand should be nothing. But he had never done this with him and it was a bit much, especially since they were in public.

“...maybe we should go back to our cabin,” he said after a moment.

“Already? But it’s such a beautiful night out.”

Sebastian brought the hand that held Ciel’s in its grasp closer to his face, closing his eyes for a moment as he breathed in the boy’s scent once more. He was hungry, just as he had said, and the more he exposed himself to Ciel’s scent the more hungry he became. He was tempted to bite his little hand, not very deeply, just enough to bring a bit of blood welling up to the surface. Or, he considered, he could use his nails to scratch him a little, especially along his veins, and carefully lick the resulting wounds clean…

_No,_ he thought, _that’s not what I brought him out here for. I must control myself._ He did not want to cause a troublesome situation for the both of them, no matter how nice it would feel.

Then, as suddenly as he had been grabbed initially, Ciel felt his hand be released back to him as Sebastian let him go. He didn’t know what to think. For a moment, he had worried he might have to try to stop Sebastian from completely blowing their cover in public, and he had been concerned he might not be able to since he couldn’t physically overpower him, but now it seemed he would not need to after all.

“What was that all about?” he asked, a little frustrated. He could still feel the ghost of Sebastian’s hand holding his, his fingertips running along his veins, his lips against his skin.

“...I told you, I wasn’t paying attention to you because of hunger. You should lay back down, relax.”

Sebastian gazed at Ciel, watching him until he did as he was told. The moonlight illuminated his features in a pleasing way, giving his hair a silvery sheen, making his blue veins especially visible against the backdrop of his pale skin, enhancing the mild purple gleam Sebastian could see in his right eye. _He’s so beautiful like this,_ he thought.

After he reluctantly laid back down, Ciel turned his head towards Sebastian.

“Well...why, then?”

_Why indeed?_ thought Sebastian. _Was it simply because you’re mine? Because there’s something thrilling about touching you, even just a little bit like that, in a place where we could be seen? Because you have changed everything for me?_

“Is it not enough to want to view the night sky with my human companion by my side, and to find him fascinating enough to take interest in even outside of my natural impulses?”

Ciel made a skeptical sound and didn’t respond. _I know you wanted to bite me_ , he thought. But Sebastian had promised never to lie to him. He held his hands together and looked up at the sky, running one of his fingertips over the same spots Sebastian had on the hand he had been holding. Was ‘fascinating’ really the right term for the way Sebastian thought of him? Sometimes Sebastian did seem enthralled by him, but Ciel couldn’t think of anything beyond his blood that would make him so. The only other thing he could think of about himself that would be interesting would be the fact that he was from the future, but Sebastian never seemed to care much about that and never bothered to question him about his knowledge of future events. There had to be something more to it. But it was too much for Ciel to figure out.

They watched the bright stars and moon together in silence for a while, listening to the sound of the ocean around them.

* * *

The following night, Ciel sat in Sebastian’s lap in their cabin on the bed as Sebastian read to him. Since the edition of _Alice in Wonderland_ they were reading had illustrations, Ciel had wanted to sit together in a way that allowed him to see the book too. Sebastian held the book in front of both of them as he read, and he made a valiant effort not to get distracted, but it was very difficult.

Sebastian could see Ciel’s neck easily in front of him, as the boy was wearing a t-shirt that didn’t cover it, and he could feel the warmth of his body against him. He enjoyed reading to Ciel, spending time with him like this, but he had not yet eaten that night and the combination of their closeness, Ciel’s scent, and the delectable look of his bare neck were too much for him.

Ciel noticed Sebastian slowing down his reading pace, until he trailed off and stopped reading altogether. He turned around to see why and saw that the vampire’s gaze was directed at his neck instead of the book. Sebastian’s mouth was slightly open and Ciel could see that his fangs had extended.

“Ah...they’re already out…” he murmured, and he brought one hand up and curiously ran a fingertip along one of Sebastian’s fangs. Before he even realized he had cut himself, Sebastian had set the book down, grabbed his hand, and was licking the blood from his finger. He could feel it tingling slightly, and he shifted on Sebastian’s lap to face him. When he did so, he noticed that Sebastian was getting hard beneath him, and he pressed himself down against him a little, enjoying the feeling.

“Do you...want to take a break?” he asked, already knowing the answer. Sebastian was obviously far too hungry to focus on anything other than him.

Sebastian quickly pulled Ciel’s t-shirt over his head and set it aside, which Ciel was pleased to cooperate with by lifting his arms when necessary. He pulled Ciel’s body a little closer, shifting him so he sat more comfortably against him with his legs on either side of him.

_Next time,_ Ciel thought as he felt Sebastian slide his fangs into his neck, _we’ll need to sit in a different position...and do this ahead of time..._

* * *

It was during the second to last day of their voyage that Ciel awoke suddenly from a nightmare. He did not have nightmares especially often, perhaps only a few times per month, and he tried not to let them bother him too much after he was awake. He had never told Sebastian about them, as he worried it would make him appear childish to the vampire, and he usually just tried to go back to sleep or got up to get a drink of water to try to clear his mind.

His nightmares tended to be convoluted, involving components of different bad things that had happened in his life. His kidnapping by the cult and his sudden and complete disconnection from his family were common themes, as was Sebastian’s murder of the cultists and the other children the day they met. Sebastian appeared fairly often in his nightmares, sometimes as a savior from his problems and other times as a frightening figure, intent upon killing him or draining him of his blood. 

When he was awake, he felt this was foolish. He could tell that Sebastian greatly valued his presence and was willing to go to vast lengths to protect him. Had he not dropped everything else in his life to attend to Ciel and his difficulties? Did he not patiently dress him, feed him, bathe him, and otherwise care for all of his needs? But sometimes when Sebastian was angry with him, Ciel couldn’t help but imagine what it would be like if he really lost control, if he decided that their agreement wasn’t worth tolerating some transgression he thought Ciel had made.

This time, Ciel’s nightmare was about being separated from his family. His unconscious mind did not seem to really understand what it meant to be separated from them by time, as it usually tried to represent this in his nightmares as spatial separation. Situations like being trapped on a deserted island while his parents were looking for him in a plane but were unable to see him, or where he was lost in a forest and could hear them calling for him but they couldn’t hear him calling back were common.

In this one, perhaps because of their current location, he had found himself stranded in the water in an endless ocean. He could see his parents and brother in a boat, far away from him, but they couldn’t see or hear him. He didn’t remember falling out of the boat, but he must have at some point, and eventually he got too tired to keep treading water. He felt himself slip under, struggling to breathe, and then woke up.

_This is so stupid…_ he thought, trying to calm himself down. _I just had my face up against the pillow a little too tightly, that’s all._ Nonetheless, he could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He took a deep breath and felt his lungs fill with air, giving him a small sense of relief. _That’s not even what would have happened...Sebastian would have saved me_ , he thought. _He wouldn’t have allowed me to drown._

He looked across the room to the other bed, where Sebastian was sleeping. Since there were no windows and they had all of the lights off, it was quite dark, and he could barely see him. Sebastian just looked like a vaguely human-shaped figure under the blanket.

Ciel thought about how nice it had felt to sit with him recently as he read to him. They had done so again, after the attempt where Sebastian got distracted, and it had worked out better. Ciel had sat next to him with his head against Sebastian’s chest and Sebastian’s arm around him. It had made him feel so relaxed and safe to sit like that, listening to his calming voice and feeling the warmth of his body against his.

_I wonder if he would mind if I woke him up…?_ Ciel thought to himself. He felt a strong desire to be held by him again. But he wasn’t sure if it would irritate Sebastian if he woke him up for something unnecessary like that. He knew that the vampire did need to sleep.

He shifted his blanket off and stood up. He walked across the room and reached out his arm to shake Sebastian, but before he could, Sebastian had gently grabbed his arm in his hand.

“Yes?”

“Oh...um…” Ciel had not expected to be ‘caught’. But of course, upon thinking about it, he realized it made sense that Sebastian’s sensitive hearing would have alerted him to anyone approaching him. “I…I want to lay here for a little while, okay?”

Ciel didn’t wait for a response before putting his knee on the edge of the bed, and as he started to climb in, Sebastian shifted back on the bed to make room for him and lifted up his blanket so Ciel could climb underneath.

“That’s fine,” replied Sebastian, a bit surprised but not displeased in the least. “You may lay with me for as long as you would like.”

Ciel climbed under the blanket and laid down next to Sebastian, wrapping his arm around him. He felt Sebastian pull him against him more closely and was pleased to feel himself enveloped in Sebastian’s warm grasp.

Sebastian held Ciel against his body, with the two of them facing each other and Ciel’s head against his chest. He wondered if he should ask what had prompted this. He knew it was likely another one of Ciel’s nightmares. He was aware that the boy had them every once in a while because he sometimes made noise in his sleep, and Sebastian could hear it even though it was not very loud. 

He had never mentioned it to him, though, because he did not really know what to do about it. Sebastian did not know how to comfort someone, or make them feel better. It was not something he had ever cared much about doing, and he had little practice with it.

He tried not to focus on Ciel’s scent, to keep his mind in the right place. Ciel had just fed him before they went to bed, and they had done their usual ‘activities’ as well, so he was not extraordinarily tempted as he might have been if that had not been the case. But he still had to be careful. 

Ciel luxuriated in the warmth and comfort of Sebastian’s arms. He buried his face against Sebastian’s chest and held onto his shirt with one hand while the other was wrapped around him.

“Sebastian…?” he asked quietly, after a long while.

“Hm?”

“What if…what if this doesn’t work? Getting my machine to turn on, I mean. What if _none_ of my plans work and I can’t figure out any way to get home by the time our contract ends?”

He hated asking, having to sound so helpless, but he was very worried about it. He did not think he would be able to survive in the present on his own much better in five years than he could now, and he didn’t even have the entire five left ahead of him. He would be an adult then, but how would he support himself? How would he interact with people if he hadn’t mastered the language yet? He didn’t know _anyone_ in this time, aside from Sebastian, and he had always had other people to help him with everything. He couldn’t imagine having to try to find a job with what little useful skills he had, and he doubted he would be able to protect himself sufficiently if someone tried to attack him again.

Sebastian didn’t answer right away, uncertain of how much of his own preferences for that situation he should reveal to him yet. He did not want Ciel to think he was working against him, as he had no intention of breaking his end of their contract, but he knew already that he would strongly prefer to keep Ciel with him at the end rather than have him leave, and he doubted Ciel would agree to that unless he were unable to get back home.

“In that case...you will remain with me as my human companion. There is no reason you would need to leave when the duration of our contract is up.”

“You don’t think you’ll be tired of me by then?” asked Ciel. He thought this concern was realistic. After all, who wouldn’t be tired of a meal after eating the same one over and over for years? Even Sebastian had initially anticipated that possibility, he recalled. “I won’t look the same anymore either.”

Sebastian shifted their positions a little so that Ciel’s face was across from his. He smoothed back Ciel’s hair, looking into his eyes.

“Even then, you will still be mine. You know, this mark on your eye will never fade away. For as long as you are a living human, you will be visibly _my_ human. Your age doesn’t change anything. It won’t make me want you any less.” 

_And I have no intention of letting you go,_ thought Sebastian. _If you stay in this time and you choose to leave me after our contract is completed, you will find that it is a dangerous thing to be without my guarantee of protection when I always know your precise location._ He could just about stomach the concept of letting Ciel go back to his family after all of the boy’s contractual obligations had been met because he felt he had no other option, though even then he intended to find him again someday. But to let Ciel go live by himself, or with someone else...to let him leave him for any other reason besides returning home...the idea was completely intolerable. He would tear him apart before he would allow it.

Ciel wasn’t sure whether he should be upset with Sebastian for not having told him that the mark was permanent earlier or pleased with him for the fact that he was willing to continue caring for him and protecting him if necessary.

“You…never told me that the mark wouldn’t disappear when our contract ended.”

“It’s entirely separate from that. At least among my kind, you will always appear to be ‘taken’, no matter how many years pass.”

_I should have asked about that before he put it on me…_ thought Ciel. _At least I won’t have to worry about my family seeing it someday, since they’re all human…_ But if he ever passed a vampire in the street, they might say something, might question who his vampire was or where he was...it would be very difficult to keep his relationship with Sebastian entirely a secret from his parents, he realized. Even aside from the mark, they were sure to wonder who had been taking care of him while he was stranded in the past. If he ever got back, that was.

“You should have told me that...but I’m glad you’re not the sort of pervert who’s _only_ interested in 13-year-olds.”

“Of course I’m not. People your age...or more precisely, your _size_ , are just barely able to handle providing me with the necessary amount of blood. Although I am not particularly concerned about age specifically, I do care about being fed properly. I never originally anticipated choosing such a tiny human companion as you…”

Ciel nudged him in the torso with his knee.

“I’m not tiny.”

“I promised never to lie to you. You are. But you don’t need to be concerned about it.”

Sebastian leaned forward and kissed Ciel on the lips, holding his head in place with his hand. _Careful,_ he told himself, _he came here for comfort, not sexual attention._ But he could not resist the temptation to kiss him a little more deeply, and when Ciel opened his mouth a bit to allow him to, the taste was almost enough to make him give up entirely on trying to restrain himself.

He pulled back after a moment, studying Ciel’s face. He could see him clearly, the purple glow of his eye illuminating his face in the darkness, at least in Sebastian’s view. He decided he had to at least try to provide the boy with what he needed, that the value of doing so was likely to be quite high. He wanted Ciel to _want_ to be with him, after all. Everything would be so much simpler that way.

“Is there anything specific you would like me to do when you have a nightmare?” he asked softly.

Ciel blinked, shocked.

“...how did you know about that?”

“You’re not entirely silent when it happens, and I can hear very well.”

“Oh, have I been waking you up?”

“Well...yes, but it’s fine.”

“Okay, um,” Ciel began. “Could you just...wake me up, then, if you hear it happening?”

“Yes, if you want me to. Is that all?”

Ciel gripped Sebastian’s shirt a little more tightly and looked away.

“And...sometimes...I might want to lay together like this.”

Sebastian brought his arms back around Ciel and pulled him against him again.

“Of course…” he said, though privately he was a little concerned. Would he really be able to have Ciel in bed with him on a semi-regular basis without touching him too much? It would be easier now than it might once have been, as they rarely missed a day of providing each other with what they both wanted, but he was not certain Ciel understood just how much his close proximity made him desire him. Nonetheless, if Ciel was going to make such a charming request, he could hardly refuse.

Ciel relaxed against Sebastian, shifting a little to bury his face against his chest again. He felt so warm, so secure in his arms. He still had many problems, but he no longer had to worry that he would suddenly be left to try to take care of himself if every plan he could come up with failed. Knowing that Sebastian would not abandon him just because their contract was complete or he had gotten older was so relieving, and it made him feel closer to him.

He realized he was starting to have a difficult time imagining what his life would be like without Sebastian in it. If he had never gone back in time and had never met him, he supposed that instead of being held in his arms in bed right now, he would probably be at school. It was the middle of the day, after all, and he would have been spending most of his time recently on schoolwork, hobbies, and socializing with other kids his age.

Although he did want to go home, somehow the idea of that alternative outcome did not seem appealing at all. He did not enjoy the thought of his old life simply resuming, with all of his old routines and responsibilities, and without his vampire. There were too many things he could only talk about with him, could only share with him, _had_ only shared with him…

As he drifted off to sleep, he thought about the possibility of bringing Sebastian with him to his own time. He was not sure if he would be willing to go, or how he would possibly set up their lives when they got there, but he knew he did not want to simply leave him should he manage to find a way back. He had finally found someone who was really his, in a way no one else had ever been, and he couldn’t stand the thought of being without him.


End file.
